The history of the creation of the painting the last day of Pompeii. Painting “The Last Day of Pompeii”: description. Description of the artwork “The Last Day of Pompeii”

Among the masters of Russian romanticism, Karl Bryullov is an outstanding figure. His monumental canvases and portraits of his contemporaries constitute the golden fund of Russian painting. History has preserved the epithets the artist received from his friends: “Brilliant”, “Magnificent”. It was Karl Bryullov’s painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” that aroused such high praise, honoring the creator with the title of the great Russian romantic artist. Italian motifs and classical themes of the Renaissance were reflected in Bryullov’s work, making the painting the most important canvas creative path artist.

“The Last Day of Pompeii”: the history of the painting

79 AD. A volcanic eruption destroys an ancient city of the Roman Empire. During the disaster, more than two thousand inhabitants die, some are buried alive under lava flows. The theme of Pompeii is very popular in the works of the early 19th century. The period between 1748 (the discovery of the ruins of Pompeii as a result of archaeological excavations) and 1835 is marked by many works of painting, music, theater, and literature about this event.

1827. Karl Bryullov personally becomes acquainted with the history of the lost city. He visits the excavations. The young artist did not suspect the fatality of the trip. Then the master will write that he experienced a new sensation, forgetting about everything except the terrible fate that befell the city. The author of the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” was deeply impressed. For several years Bryullov has been working on sources: historical data, literary evidence. The artist studies in detail the history of the region, becoming more and more aware of the theme of the lost city. It is known that the artist communicated with people who carried out archaeological excavations and read a lot of works on the topic.

Karl Pavlovich visits the ancient city many times, taking all the details of the future canvas from life. The sketches and the painting very accurately convey the appearance of Pompeii. Bryullov chose the crossroads known as the “street of tombs” as the location for the action. Here the ancient Pompeians buried the ashes of their deceased ancestors in marble mausoleums. The choice is intentional, filled with deep symbolism.

The artist considered the key point to be the need to illuminate Vesuvius. The volcano, which became the cause of the tragedy, occupies the background of the work, creating a depressing impression, enhancing the monumentalism of the work. Bryullov painted local residents from life. Many Italians living in the vicinity of Vesuvius are descendants of the indigenous inhabitants of the lost city. Having made a sketch of the composition, roughly seeing what the picture would be like, the artist began work on the greatest work of his own creative career.

1830-33. Work on the work, which brought worldwide fame, was in full swing. The canvas was filled with life, the spirit of inevitable death. The picture differs slightly from the original sketch. The point of view has shifted a little, there are more characters. The plan of action, the idea, the stylistic composition, made in the spirit of the works of the era of classicism - everything remains. “The Last Day of Pompeii” is a truly monumental work (4.65 x 6.5 meters).

The picture brought Bryullov world fame. The canvas is sent directly to Rome almost immediately after painting. The reviews from critics were overwhelming. The Italians were delighted to see how deeply the Russian artist felt the historical tragedy, with what painstakingness and involvement he wrote out the smallest details works. The Italians called “The Last Day of Pompeii” a “triumphal” painting. Few Russian artists have received such high praise abroad. The end of the first third of the 19th century for Italy was a turbulent time that foreshadowed strong historical upheavals. Bryullov’s painting, in modern terms, has become truly trendy. Historical memory is an important concept for a country that fought for freedom from Austrian rule. The foreign artist’s interest in the heroic past of original Italy only fueled the country’s revolutionary sentiments.

The painting was later sent to Paris. The Louvre was visited by many of Bryullov’s great contemporaries, who wanted to see the magnificent painting with their own eyes. Among those who appreciated the work was the writer Walter Scott, who called the painting extraordinary. In his opinion, the genre of the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” is a real pictorial epic. The artist did not expect such success. Bryullov became a triumph along with the painting.

“The Last Day of Pompeii” went to the artist’s homeland, St. Petersburg, in 1834, where it remains to this day.

Description of the artwork “The Last Day of Pompeii”

The composition of the canvas is made according to the strict canons of classicism, but Bryullov’s work is a transitional stage on the path to romanticism. Hence the pronounced theme of tragedy not of a person, but of a people. Appeal to real historical events is another characteristic romantic feature.

Foreground of the left corner of the picture – married couple, covering children with her bodies. It shows a woman hugging her daughters and a Christian priest. He expresses calmness and humility, accepting what happened as God’s will. The antipode image of the other characters in the canvas, his eyes do not carry horror. Bryullov laid down deep symbolism, the opposition between Christian and Roman, pagan religion. In the middle of the canvas, the priest, saving temple valuables, runs away from inevitable death. This is how the author marked the historical demise of the pagan religion after the advent of Christianity. On the steps of the tomb on the left we see a woman whose gaze is full of primitive horror. Despair and silent pleas for help are noticeable to everyone. The woman is the only character looking directly, addressing the viewer.

The right side of the picture is the side of the volcano. A thunderous thunderbolt destroys the statues. The sky is blazing with a fiery glow, foreshadowing death. Through sharp, dark strokes, the artist metaphorically shows “falling skies.” Ashes are flying. A young man carries a lifeless girl (with a wedding crown on her head). The elements prevented the wedding. Sons carrying their old father take a similar pose. A rearing horse throws off its rider. The young man helps his mother up, persuading her to run.

Located in the center main element compositions. A dead woman lies on the ground, with a baby on her chest. The element carries the main idea of Bryullov’s painting “The Last Day of Pompeii”: the death of the old world, the birth of a new era, the opposition of life and death. Symbolism is very characteristic of romanticism.

Contrasted with the hot scarlet flame background The canvas has a cold, “dead” light in the foreground. Bryullov enthusiastically plays with chiaroscuro, creating volume, immersing the viewer in what is happening. Russian art criticism rightly considered Karl Pavlovich an innovator who discovered new era Russian painting.

Interesting facts about the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii”

Bryullov’s work is fraught with many hidden meanings and mysteries. It is important for an erudite person not only to know who painted the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii”, but also what secrets the painting hides:

The artist standing on the steps is a self-portrait of the author. Bryullov with this element showed how deeply he experienced the tragedy of the eruption of Vesuvius, sympathizing with the heroes of the canvas;
Countess Samoilova, the artist’s closest friend and muse, is the model for four characters in the picture (a dead woman, a woman with horror in her eyes, a mother covering her children with a cloak);
The name of the canvas has actually become popular in the Russian language. “Pompeia” is used in the feminine singular form, but according to the rules the word is plural;
Bryullov's painting was repeatedly mentioned directly in works of classical Russian literature by Lermontov, Pushkin, Turgenev, Gogol;
Among the surviving victims of Pompeii is Pliny the Younger, an ancient historian. The artist depicted him as a young man helping his fallen mother rise.

Where is The Last Day of Pompeii located?

Images are no way to convey the amazing monumentalism famous work art, so be sure to come to St. Petersburg! 1895 - the canvas becomes part of the permanent exhibition of the Russian Museum. Here you can calmly enjoy the magnificent masterpiece of the famous painter.

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It is difficult to name a picture that would have enjoyed the same success among contemporaries as “The Last Day of Pompeii.” As soon as the canvas was completed, the Roman workshop of Karl Bryullov came under a real siege. "INAll Rome flocked to see my picture.”, - wrote the artist. Exhibited in 1833 in Milan"Pompeii" literally shocked the audience. Newspapers and magazines were full of laudatory reviews,Bryullov was called the living Titian, the second Michelangelo, the new Raphael...

Dinners and receptions were held in honor of the Russian artist, and poems were dedicated to him. As soon as Bryullov appeared in the theater, the hall exploded with applause. The painter was recognized on the streets, showered with flowers, and sometimes the celebration ended with fans carrying him in their arms with songs.

In 1834 the painting, optionalcustomer, industrialist A.N. Demidova, was exhibited at the Paris Salon. The reaction of the public here was not as hot as in Italy (they are jealous! - the Russians explained), but “Pompeii” was awarded the gold medal of the French Academy of Fine Arts.

The enthusiasm and patriotic enthusiasm with which the painting was greeted in St. Petersburg is difficult to imagine: thanks to Bryullov, Russian painting ceased to be a diligent student of the great Italians and created a work that delighted Europe!The painting was donated Demidov Nicholas I , who briefly placed it in the Imperial Hermitage and then donated it Academy arts

According to the memoirs of a contemporary, “crowds of visitors, one might say, burst into the halls of the Academy to look at Pompeii.” They talked about the masterpiece in salons, shared opinions in private correspondence, and made notes in diaries. The honorary nickname “Charlemagne” was established for Bryullov.

Impressed by the painting, Pushkin wrote a six-line poem:
“Vesuvius opened - smoke poured out in a cloud - flames
Widely developed as a battle flag.
The earth is agitated - from the shaky columns
Idols fall! A people driven by fear
Under the stone rain, under the inflamed ashes,
In crowds, old and young, fleeing from the city.”

Gogol dedicated " The last day Pompeii" is a remarkably insightful article, and the poet Evgeny Baratynsky expressed general jubilation in a well-known impromptu:

« You brought peace trophies
With you to your father's canopy,
And it became “The Last Day of Pompeii”
First day for the Russian brush!”

The immoderate enthusiasm has long subsided, but even today Bryullov’s painting makes a strong impression, going beyond the feelings that painting, even very good one, usually evokes in us. What's the matter?

"Tomb Street" In the depths is the Herculanean Gate.
Photograph of the second half of the 19th century.

Since excavations began in Pompeii in the mid-18th century, there has been interest in this city, which was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. e., did not fade away. Europeans flocked to Pompeii to wander through the ruins, freed from a layer of petrified volcanic ash, to admire the frescoes, sculptures, mosaics, and marvel at the unexpected finds of archaeologists. Excavations attracted artists and architects; etchings with views of Pompeii were in great fashion.

Bryullov , who first visited the excavations in 1827, very accurately conveyeda feeling of empathy for the events of two thousand years ago, which covers everyone who comes to Pompeii:“The sight of these ruins involuntarily made me transported to a time when these walls were still inhabited /.../. You cannot pass through these ruins without feeling some completely new feeling within yourself, making you forget everything except the terrible incident with this city.”

Express this “new feeling”, create new image antiquity - not abstractly museum-like, but holistic and full-blooded, the artist strived for in his painting. He got used to the era with the meticulousness and care of an archaeologist: out of more than five years, it took only 11 months to create the 30-square-meter canvas itself, the rest of the time was taken up by preparatory work.

“I took this scenery entirely from life, without retreating or adding at all, standing with my back to the city gates in order to see part of Vesuvius as main reason", Bryullov shared in one of his letters.Pompeii had eight gates, butfurther the artist mentioned “the staircase leading to Sepolcri Sc au ro " - the monumental tomb of the eminent citizen Scaurus, and this gives us the opportunity to accurately establish the place of action chosen by Bryullov. We are talking about the Herculanean Gate of Pompeii ( Porto di Ercolano ), behind which, already outside the city, began the “Street of Tombs” ( Via dei Sepolcri) - a cemetery with magnificent tombs and temples. This part of Pompeii was in the 1820s. was already well cleared, which allowed the painter to reconstruct the architecture on canvas with maximum accuracy.

Tomb of Scaurus. Reconstruction of the 19th century.

In recreating the picture of the eruption, Bryullov followed the famous letters of Pliny the Younger to Tacitus. Young Pliny survived the eruption in the seaport of Miseno, north of Pompeii, and described in detail what he saw: houses that seemed to move from their places, flames spreading widely across the cone of the volcano, hot pieces of pumice falling from the sky, heavy rain of ash, black impenetrable darkness , fiery zigzags, like giant lightning... And Bryullov transferred all this to the canvas.

Seismologists are amazed at how convincingly he depicted an earthquake: looking at collapsing houses, one can determine the direction and strength of the earthquake (8 points). Volcanologists note that the eruption of Vesuvius was written with all possible accuracy for that time. Historians claim that Bryullov’s painting can be used to study ancient Roman culture.

In order to reliably capture the world of ancient Pompeii destroyed by the catastrophe, Bryullov took objects and remains of bodies found during excavations as samples, made countless sketches in archaeological museum Naples. The method of restoring the dying poses of the dead by pouring lime into the voids formed by the bodies was invented only in 1870, but even during the creation of the picture, skeletons discovered in petrified ashes testified to the last convulsions and gestures of the victims. A mother hugging her two daughters; a young woman who fell to her death when she fell from a chariot that hit a cobblestone that had been torn out of the pavement by an earthquake; people on the steps of the tomb of Scaurus, protecting their heads from rockfall with stools and dishes - all this is not a figment of the painter’s imagination, but an artistically recreated reality.

On the canvas we see characters endowed with portrait features of the author himself and his beloved, Countess Yulia Samoilova. Bryullov portrayed himself as an artist carrying a box of brushes and paints on his head. The beautiful features of Julia are recognized four times in the picture: a girl with a vessel on her head, a mother hugging her daughters, a woman clutching her baby to her chest, a noble Pompeian woman who fell from a broken chariot. The self-portrait and portraits of his girlfriend are the best proof that in his penetration into the past Bryullov really became close to the event, creating a “presence effect” for the viewer, making him, as it were, a participant in what was happening.

Fragment of the picture:
self-portrait of Bryullovand a portrait of Yulia Samoilova.
Fragment of the picture:
compositional “triangle” - a mother hugging her daughters.

Bryullov’s painting pleased everyone - both strict academicians, adherents of the aesthetics of classicism, and those who valued novelty in art and for whom “Pompeii” became, in Gogol’s words, “a bright resurrection of painting.”This novelty was brought to Europe by the fresh wind of romanticism. The merit of Bryullov’s painting is usually seen in the fact that the brilliant graduate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts was open to new trends. At the same time, the classicist layer of the painting is often interpreted as a relic, an inevitable tribute from the artist to the routine past. But it seems that another turn of the topic is possible: the fusion of two “isms” turned out to be fruitful for the film.

The unequal, fatal struggle of man with the elements - such is the romantic pathos of the picture. It is built on sharp contrasts of darkness and the disastrous light of the eruption, the inhuman power of soulless nature and the high intensity of human feelings.

But there is also something else in the picture that opposes the chaos of the catastrophe: an unshakable core in a world shaking to its very foundations. This core is the classical balance of the most complex composition, which saves the picture from the tragic feeling of hopelessness. The composition, built according to the “recipes” of academicians - the “triangles” ridiculed by subsequent generations of painters, into which groups of people fit, balanced masses on the right and left - is read in the living, tense context of the picture in a completely different way than in the dry and deathly academic canvases.

Fragment of the picture: a young family.
In the foreground is a pavement damaged by an earthquake.
Fragment of the picture: the dead Pompeian woman.

“The world is still harmonious in its fundamentals” - this feeling arises in the viewer subconsciously, partly contrary to what he sees on the canvas. The artist's encouraging message is read not at the level of the painting's plot, but at the level of its plastic solution.The wild romantic element is tamed by a classically perfect form, And in this unity of opposites lies another secret of the attractiveness of Bryullov’s canvas.

The film tells many exciting and touching stories. Here is a young man in despair peering into the face of a girl in a wedding crown, who has lost consciousness or died. Here is a young man convincing an old woman sitting exhausted of something. This couple is called “Pliny with his mother” (although, as we remember, Pliny the Younger was not in Pompeii, but in Miseno): in a letter to Tacitus, Pliny conveys his dispute with his mother, who urged her son to leave her and run away without delay, but he did not agree to leave the weak woman. A warrior in a helmet and a boy are carrying a sick old man; a baby, who miraculously survived a fall from a chariot, hugs his dead mother; the young man raised his hand, as if deflecting the blow of the elements from his family, the baby in the arms of his wife, with childish curiosity, reaches out to the dead bird. People are trying to take with them what is most precious: a pagan priest - a tripod, a Christian - a censer, an artist - brushes. The deceased woman was carrying jewelry, which, no one needs, is now lying on the pavement.

Fragment of the painting: Pliny with his mother.
Fragment of the picture: earthquake - “idols fall.”

Such a powerful plot load on a painting can be dangerous for painting, making the canvas a “story in pictures,” but in Bryullov’s literary style and abundance of details do not destroy the artistic integrity of the painting. Why? We find the answer in the same article by Gogol, who compares Bryullov’s painting “in its vastness and combination of everything beautiful in itself with opera, if only opera is truly a combination of the triple world of arts: painting, poetry, music” (by poetry Gogol obviously meant literature at all).

This feature of Pompeii can be described in one word - syntheticity: the picture organically combines a dramatic plot, vivid entertainment and thematic polyphony, similar to music. (By the way, the theatrical basis of the picture had a real prototype - Giovanni Paccini’s opera “The Last Day of Pompeii”, which during the years of the artist’s work on the canvas was staged at the Neapolitan San Carlo Theater. Bryullov was well acquainted with the composer, listened to the opera several times and borrowed costumes for his sitters.)

William Turner. Eruption of Vesuvius. 1817

So, the picture resembles the final scene of a monumental opera performance: the most expressive scenery is reserved for the finale, all storylines are connected, and musical themes are woven into a complex polyphonic whole. This picture-performance is similar to ancient tragedies, in which contemplation of the nobility and courage of the heroes in the face of inexorable fate leads the viewer to catharsis - spiritual and moral enlightenment. The feeling of empathy that overcomes us in front of the picture is akin to what we experience in the theater, when what is happening on the stage moves us to tears, and these tears bring joy to the heart.

Gavin Hamilton. Neapolitans watch the eruption of Vesuvius.
Second floor. 18th century

Bryullov’s painting is breathtakingly beautiful: huge size - four and a half by six and a half meters, stunning “special effects”, divinely built people, like ancient statues come to life. “His figures are beautiful despite the horror of their situation. They drown it out with their beauty,” wrote Gogol, sensitively capturing another feature of the picture - the aestheticization of the disaster. The tragedy of the death of Pompeii and, more broadly, of the entire ancient civilization is presented to us as an incredibly beautiful sight. What are these contrasts worth: the black cloud pressing on the city, the shining flame on the slopes of the volcano and the mercilessly bright flashes of lightning, these statues captured at the very moment of the fall and the buildings collapsing like cardboard...

The perception of the eruptions of Vesuvius as grandiose performances staged by nature itself appeared already in the 18th century - even special machines were created to imitate the eruption. This “volcano fashion” was introduced by the British envoy to the Kingdom of Naples, Lord William Hamilton (husband of the legendary Emma, friend of Admiral Nelson). A passionate volcanologist, he was literally in love with Vesuvius and even built a villa on the slope of the volcano to comfortably admire the eruptions. Observations of the volcano when it was active (several eruptions occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries), verbal descriptions and sketches of its changing beauties, ascents to the crater - these were the entertainments of the Neapolitan elite and visitors.

It is human nature to watch with bated breath the disastrous and beautiful games of nature, even if this means balancing at the mouth of an active volcano. This is the same “ecstasy in battle and the dark abyss on the edge” that Pushkin wrote about in “Little Tragedies”, and which Bryullov conveyed in his canvas, which has been making us admire and be horrified for almost two centuries.

Modern Pompeii

Karl Bryullov was so carried away by the tragedy of the city destroyed by Vesuvius that he personally participated in the excavations of Pompeii, and later carefully worked on the painting: instead three years indicated in the order of the young philanthropist Anatoly Demidov, the artist painted the picture for six whole years.
(About imitation of Raphael, plot parallels with The Bronze Horseman, tours of the work throughout Europe and the fashion for the tragedy of Pompeii among artists.)

The eruption of Vesuvius on August 24-25 in 79 AD was the largest cataclysm of the Ancient World. About 5 thousand people died on that last day in several coastal cities.

This story is especially well known to us from the painting by Karl Bryullov, which can be seen in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

In 1834, a “presentation” of the painting took place in St. Petersburg. The poet Evgeny Boratynsky wrote the lines: “The last day of Pompeii became the first day for the Russian brush!” The picture amazed Pushkin and Gogol. Gogol captured the secret of its popularity in his inspired article dedicated to the painting:

"His works are the first that can be understood (although not equally) by an artist who has higher development taste, and not knowing what art is."

Indeed, a work of genius is understandable to everyone, and at the same time, a more developed person will discover in it other planes of a different level.

Pushkin wrote poetry and even sketched part of the composition of the painting in the margins.

Vesuvius opened its mouth - smoke poured out in a cloud - flames
Widely developed as a battle flag.
The earth is agitated - from the shaky columns
Idols fall! A people driven by fear
Under the stone rain, under the inflamed ashes,
In crowds, old and young, flee from the city (III, 332).

This brief retelling paintings, multi-figured and compositionally complex. Not a small canvas at all. In those days, it was even the largest painting, which already amazed contemporaries: the scale of the painting, correlated with the scale of the disaster.

Our memory cannot absorb everything; its possibilities are not limitless. You can look at such a picture more than once and see something else every time.

What did Pushkin single out and remember? A researcher of his work, Yuri Lotman, identified three main thoughts: "the uprising of the elements - the statues begin to move - the people (people) as a victim of disaster". And he made a very reasonable conclusion:
Pushkin had just finished his “Bronze Horseman” and saw what was close to him at that moment.

Indeed, the plot is similar: the elements (flood) are raging, the monument comes to life, the frightened Eugene runs from the elements and the monument.

Lotman also writes about the direction of Pushkin’s view:

“A comparison of the text with Bryullov’s canvas reveals that Pushkin’s gaze slides diagonally from the upper right corner to the lower left. This corresponds to the main compositional axis of the picture.”

Researcher of diagonal compositions, artist and art theorist N. Tarabukin wrote:
Indeed, we are incredibly fascinated by what is happening. Bryullov managed to make the viewer involved in the events as much as possible. There is a "presence effect".

Karl Bryullov graduated from the Academy of Arts in 1823 with a gold medal. Traditionally, gold medalists went to Italy for an internship. There Bryullov visits the Italian artist’s workshop and for 4 years copies Raphael’s “School of Athens”, all 50 figures in life size. At this time, Bryullov is visited by the writer Stendhal.
There is no doubt that Bryullov learned a lot from Raphael - the ability to organize a large canvas.

Bryullov came to Pompeii in 1827 together with the Countess Maria Grigorievna Razumovskaya. She became the first customer of the painting. However, the rights to the paintings are bought by a sixteen-year-old Anatoly Nikolaevich Demidov, owner of the Ural mining plants, rich man and philanthropist. He had a net annual income of two million rubles.

Nikolai Demidov, the father, who recently died, was a Russian envoy and sponsored excavations in Florence in the Forum and Capitol. Demidov will subsequently give the painting to Nicholas the First, and he will donate it to the Academy of Arts, from where it will go to the Russian Museum.

Demidov signed a contract with Bryullov for a certain period and tried to adjust the artist, but he conceived a grandiose plan and in total the work on the painting took 6 years. Bryullov makes a lot of sketches and collects material.

Bryullov was so carried away that he himself participated in the excavations. It must be said that the excavations began formally on October 22, 1738, by order of the Neapolitan king Charles III, they were carried out by an engineer from Andalusia, Roque Joaquin de Alcubierre, with 12 workers (and these were the first archaeological systematic excavations in history, when detailed records were made of everything that was found, before that there were mainly pirate methods, when precious objects were snatched, and the rest could be barbarically destroyed).

By the time Bryullov appeared, Herculaneum and Pompeii had become not only a site of excavations, but also a place of pilgrimage for tourists. In addition, Bryullov was inspired by Paccini's opera "The Last Day of Pompeii", which he saw in Italy. It is known that he dressed the sitters in costumes for the performance. (Gogol, by the way, compared the picture to an opera, apparently sensing the “theatricality” of the mise-en-scène. It definitely lacks musical accompaniment in the spirit of “Carmina Burana.”)

So, after a long time of working with sketches, Bryullov painted a picture and already in Italy it aroused enormous interest. Demidov decided to take her to Paris to the Salon, where she also received a gold medal. In addition, it was exhibited in Milan and London. The writer saw the picture in London Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who later wrote his novel “The Last Days of Pompeii” under the impression of the painting.

It is interesting to compare two aspects of the interpretation of the plot. In Bryullov we see clearly all the action, somewhere nearby there is fire and smoke, but in the foreground there is a clear image of the characters. When panic and mass exodus had already begun, the city was in a fair amount of smoke from the ashes. The artist depicts the rockfall as fine St. Petersburg rain and pebbles scattered on the sidewalk. People are more likely to run away from a fire. In fact, the city was already shrouded in smog, it was impossible to breathe...

In Bulwer-Lytton's novel, the heroes, a couple in love, are saved by a slave, blind from birth. Since she is blind, she easily finds her way in the dark. The heroes are saved and accept Christianity.

Were there Christians in Pompeii? At that time they were persecuted and it is unknown whether the new faith reached the provincial resort. However, Bryullov also contrasts the pagan faith and the death of the pagans with the Christian faith. In the left corner of the picture we see a group of an old man with a cross around his neck and women under his protection. The old man turned his gaze to the heavens, to his God, perhaps he would save him.

By the way, Bryullov copied some of the figures from figures from excavations. By that time, they began to fill the voids with plaster and got very real figures of the dead residents.

Classicist teachers scolded Karl for deviating from the canons of classical painting. Karl rushed between the classics absorbed at the Academy with its ideally sublime principles and the new aesthetics of romanticism.

If you look at the picture, you can identify several groups and individual characters, each with their own story. Some were inspired by excavations, some by historical facts.

The artist himself is present in the picture, his self-portrait is recognizable, here he is young, about 30 years old, on his head he carries the most necessary and expensive thing - a box of paints. This is a tribute to the tradition of Renaissance artists to paint their self-portrait in a painting.
The girl nearby is carrying a lamp.

The son carrying his father on himself is reminiscent of the classic story about Aeneas, who carried his father from the burning of Troy.
With one piece of material, the artist unites a family fleeing disaster into a group. During excavations, couples who embraced before death and children with their parents are especially moving.
Two figures, a son persuading his mother to get up and run further, are taken from the letters of Pliny the Younger.
Pliny the Younger turned out to be an eyewitness who left written evidence of the destruction of cities. Two letters have survived that he wrote to the historian Tacitus, in which he talks about the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder, a famous natural scientist, and his own misadventures.

Gaius Pliny was only 17 years old, at the time of the disaster he was studying the history of Titus Livy to write an essay, and therefore refused to go with his uncle to watch the volcanic eruption. Pliny the Elder was then admiral of the local fleet, the position he received for his scientific merits was easy. Curiosity ruined him, and besides, a certain Reczina sent him a letter asking for help. The only way to escape from her villa was by sea. Pliny sailed past Herculaneum; the people on the shore at that moment could still be saved, but he wanted to quickly see the eruption in all its glory. Then the ships, in the smoke, had difficulty finding their way to Stabia, where Pliny spent the night, but died the next day after inhaling air poisoned by sulfur.

Guy Pliny, who remained in Misenum, 30 kilometers from Pompeii, was forced to flee as the disaster reached him and his mother.

Painting by a Swiss artist Angeliki Kaufmann just shows this moment. A Spanish friend persuades Guy and his mother to run away, but they hesitate, thinking to wait for their uncle to return. The mother in the picture is not at all weak, but is still quite young.

They run, her mother asks her to leave her and save herself alone, but Guy helps her move on. Fortunately, they are saved.
Pliny described the horror of the disaster and described the appearance of the eruption, after which it began to be called "Plinian". He saw the eruption from a distance:

“The cloud (those who looked from afar could not determine over which mountain it arose; that it was Vesuvius was recognized later) was most like a pine tree in its shape: it was like a tall trunk rising upward and from it branches seemed to diverge in all directions. I think that it was thrown out by a current of air, but then the current weakened and the cloud began to spread wider due to its own gravity; in places it was bright white, in others it was dirty spots, as if from earth and ashes raised upward."

The inhabitants of Pompeii had already experienced a volcanic eruption 15 years earlier, but did not draw any conclusions. The reason is the seductive sea coast and fertile lands. Every gardener knows how well crops grow on ashes. Humanity still believes in “maybe it will blow over.”

Vesuvius woke up more than once after that, almost once every 20 years. Many drawings of eruptions from different centuries have been preserved.

The last one, in 1944, was quite large-scale, at that time there was an American army in Naples, soldiers helped during the disaster. It is unknown when and what the next one will be.

On the Italian website, the areas of possible casualties during the eruption are marked and it is easy to see that the wind rose is taken into account.

This is what particularly influenced the death of the cities; the wind carried the suspension of ejected particles towards the southeast, just towards the cities of Herculaneum, Pompeii, Stabia and several other small villas and villages. Within 24 hours they found themselves under a multi-meter layer of ash, but before that many people died from a rockfall, burned alive, and died of suffocation. A slight shaking did not indicate the approaching disaster, even when stones were already falling from the sky, many chose to pray to the gods and hide in houses, where they later found themselves walled up alive in a layer of ash.

Guy Pliny, who experienced all this in a lighter version in Mezim, describes what happened:

“It’s already the first hour of the day, and the light is uncertain, as if sick. The houses around are shaking; it’s very scary in the open narrow area; they’re about to collapse. It’s finally decided to leave the city; a crowd of people are following us, who have lost their heads and prefer someone else’s decision to our own; out of fear, this seems reasonable; we are being crushed and pushed in this crowd of people leaving. Coming out of the city, we stop. How many amazing and how many terrible things we have experienced! The carts that were ordered to accompany us were thrown in different directions on completely level ground; despite on the placed stones, they could not stand in the same place. We saw the sea moving back; the earth, shaking, seemed to push it away. The shore was clearly moving forward; many sea animals were stuck in the dry sand. On the other side, a black terrible a cloud, which was broken through in different places by running fiery zigzags; it opened up into wide blazing stripes, similar to lightning, but larger."

We cannot even imagine the suffering of those whose brains exploded from the heat, their lungs became cement and their teeth and bones disintegrated.

“In Russia at that time there was only one painter who was widely famous, Bryullov” - Herzen A.I. about art.

In the first century AD, a series of eruptions of Mount Vesuvius occurred, which were accompanied by an earthquake. They destroyed several thriving cities that were located near the foot of the mountain. The city of Pompeii was gone in just two days - in August 79 it was completely covered with volcanic ash. He found himself buried under a seven-meter thick layer of ash. It seemed that the city had disappeared from the face of the earth. However, in 1748, archaeologists were able to excavate it, lifting the curtain of the terrible tragedy. The last day ancient city and a painting by the Russian artist Karl Bryullov was dedicated.

“The Last Day of Pompeii” is the most famous painting by Karl Bryullov. The masterpiece was created over six long years - from the concept and the first sketch to the full-fledged canvas. Not a single Russian artist had such success in Europe as the young 34-year-old Bryullov, who very quickly acquired a symbolic nickname - “The Great Charles” - which corresponded to the scale of his six-year-old long-suffering brainchild - the canvas size reached 30 square meters (!). It is noteworthy that the canvas itself was painted in just 11 months; the rest of the time was spent on preparatory work.

"Italian Morning", 1823; Kunsthalle, Kiel, Germany

Western colleagues in the craft had a hard time believing in the success of a promising and talented artist. Arrogant Italians, extolling Italian painting above the rest of the world, considered the young and promising Russian painter incapable of anything more, something large and large-scale. And this despite the fact that Bryullov’s paintings were, to a certain extent, already known long before Pompeii. For example, the famous painting “Italian Morning”, painted by Bryullov after his arrival in Italy in 1823. The picture brought fame to Bryullov, receiving flattering reviews first from the Italian public, then from members of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. OPH presented the painting “Italian Morning” to Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Nicholas I. The Emperor wanted to receive a painting paired with “Morning,” which was the beginning of Bryullov’s painting “Italian Afternoon” (1827).

A girl picking grapes in the vicinity of Naples. 1827; State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

And the painting “Girl Picking Grapes in the Vicinity of Naples” (1827), glorifying the cheerful and cheerful character of Italian girls from the people. And the noisily celebrated copy of Raphael’s fresco - “The School of Athens” (1824-1828) - now decorates the copy room in the building of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Bryullov was independent and famous in Italy and Europe, he had many orders - almost everyone going to Rome strives to bring a portrait of Bryullov’s work from there...

And yet they didn’t really believe in the artist, and sometimes they even laughed at him. The already aged gentleman Camuccini, who was considered at that time the first Italian painter, especially tried. Looking at the sketches of Bryullov’s future masterpiece, he concludes that “the theme requires a huge canvas, but on a huge canvas the good that is in the sketches will be lost; Karl thinks in small canvases... The little Russian paints small pictures... A colossal piece of work that someone bigger could handle!” Bryullov was not offended, he just smiled - to be angry and angry with the old man would be absurd. In addition, the words of the Italian master further spurred the young and ambitious Russian genius in his quest to conquer Europe, and especially the complacent Italians, once and for all.

With his characteristic fanaticism, he continues to develop the plot of his main picture, which, he believes, will undoubtedly glorify his name.

There are at least two versions of how the idea of writing Pompeii originated. The unofficial version is that Bryullov, amazed by the performance of Giovanni Pacini’s enchanting opera “The Last Day of Pompeii” in Rome, came home and immediately sketched out a sketch of the future painting.

According to another version, the idea to restore the plot of the “destruction” came thanks to the excavations of archaeologists who discovered a city buried and littered with volcanic ash, stone debris and lava in 79. For almost 18 centuries the city lay under the ashes of Vesuvius. And when it was excavated, houses, statues, fountains, and the streets of Pompeii appeared before the eyes of the amazed Italians...

Karl Bryullov’s elder brother, Alexander, who had been studying the ruins of the ancient city since 1824, also took part in the excavations. For his project for the restoration of the Baths of Pompeii, he received the title of Architect of His Majesty, corresponding member of the French Institute, member of the Royal Institute of Architects in England and the title of member of the academies of art in Milan and St. Petersburg...

Alexander Pavlovich Bryullov, self-portrait 1830

By the way, in mid-March 1828, when the artist was in Rome, Vesuvius suddenly began to smoke more than usual, five days later it threw out a high column of ash and smoke, dark red streams of lava, splashing out of the crater, flowed down the slopes, a menacing roar was heard, In the houses of Naples, window panes began to tremble. Rumors of the eruption immediately reached Rome, and everyone who could rushed to Naples to look at the strange spectacle. Karl, with some difficulty, found a place in the carriage, where, besides him, there were five more passengers, and could consider himself lucky. But while the carriage was traveling the long 240 km from Rome to Naples, Vesuvius stopped smoking and dozed off... This fact greatly upset the artist, because he could have witnessed a similar catastrophe, seen the horror and brutality of the angry Vesuvius with his own eyes.

Work and triumph

So, having decided on the plot, the meticulous Bryullov began to collect historical material. Striving for the greatest authenticity of the image, Bryullov studied excavation materials and historical documents. He said that all the things he depicted were taken from the museum, that he followed archaeologists - “today’s antiquarians”, that until the last stroke he cared to be “closer to the authenticity of the incident.”

Remains of the people of the city of Pompeii, our days.

He showed the scene of action on the canvas quite accurately: “I took this scenery entirely from life, without retreating or adding at all”; In the place that appeared in the picture, during excavations, bracelets, rings, earrings, necklaces and the charred remains of a chariot were found. But the idea of the painting is much higher and much deeper than the desire to reconstruct an event that happened seventeen and a half centuries ago. The steps of the tomb of Scaurus, the skeleton of a mother and daughters hugging each other before death, a burnt cart wheel, a stool, a vase, a lamp, a bracelet - all this was the limit of authenticity...

As soon as the canvas was completed, the Roman workshop of Karl Bryullov came under a real siege. “...I experienced wonderful moments while painting this picture! And now I see the venerable old man Camuccini standing in front of her. A few days later, after all of Rome had flocked to see my painting, he came to my studio in Via San Claudio and, after standing for a few minutes in front of the painting, he hugged me and said: “Hold me, Colossus!”

The painting was exhibited in Rome, then in Milan, and everywhere enthusiastic Italians are in awe of the “Great Charles.”

The name of Karl Bryullov immediately became famous throughout the Italian peninsula - from one end to the other. When meeting on the streets, everyone took off their hat to him; when he appeared in the theaters, everyone stood up; at the door of the house where he lived, or the restaurant where he dined, many people always gathered to greet him.

Italian newspapers and magazines glorified Karl Bryullov as a genius equal to the greatest painters of all times, poets sang his praises in verse, and entire treatises were written about his new painting. Since the Renaissance itself, no artist has been the object of such universal worship in Italy as Karl Bryullov.

Bryullov Karl Pavlovich, 1836 - Vasily Tropinin

The painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” introduced Europe to the mighty Russian brush and Russian nature, which is capable of reaching almost unattainable heights in every field of art.

The painting was presented by the philanthropist Demidov to Nicholas I, who briefly placed it in the Imperial Hermitage and then donated it to the Academy of Arts. According to the memoirs of a contemporary, “crowds of visitors, one might say, burst into the halls of the Academy to look at Pompeii.” They talked about the masterpiece in salons, shared opinions in private correspondence, and made notes in diaries. The honorary nickname “Charlemagne” was established for Bryullov.

Impressed by the painting, Pushkin wrote a six-line poem:

Vesuvius opened its mouth - smoke poured out in a cloud - flames
Widely developed as a battle flag.
The earth is agitated - from the shaky columns
Idols fall! A people driven by fear
Under the stone rain, under the inflamed ashes,
Crowds, old and young, are running out of the city.

Gogol dedicated a remarkably profound article to “The Last Day of Pompeii,” and the poet Evgeny Baratynsky expressed universal rejoicing in a well-known impromptu:

“You brought the spoils of peace
With you to your father's canopy,
And became “The Last Day of Pompeii”
First day for the Russian brush!”

Facts, secrets and mysteries of the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii”

Place of the painting

The discovery of Pompeii took place in 1748. Since then, month after month, continuous excavations have uncovered the city. Pompeii left an indelible mark on the soul of Karl Bryullov already during his first visit to the city in 1827.

“The sight of these ruins involuntarily made me transport myself to a time when these walls were still inhabited... You cannot pass through these ruins without feeling within yourself some completely new feeling, making you forget everything except the terrible incident with this city.”

“I took this scenery entirely from life, without retreating or adding at all, standing with my back to the city gates in order to see part of Vesuvius as the main reason,” Bryullov shared in one of his letters.

"Street of Tombs" Pompeii

We are talking about the Herculanean Gate of Pompeii (Porto di Ercolano), behind which, already outside the city, began the “Street of Tombs” (Via dei Sepolcri) - a cemetery with magnificent tombs and temples. This part of Pompeii was in the 1820s. was already well cleared, which allowed the painter to reconstruct the architecture on canvas with maximum accuracy.

And here is the place itself, which was exactly compared to the painting by Karl Bryullov.

photo

Details of the picture

In recreating the picture of the eruption, Bryullov followed the famous letters of Pliny the Younger to Tacitus.

Young Pliny survived the eruption in the seaport of Miseno, north of Pompeii, and described in detail what he saw: houses that seemed to move from their places, flames spreading widely across the cone of the volcano, hot pieces of pumice falling from the sky, heavy rain of ash, black impenetrable darkness , fiery zigzags, like giant lightning... And Bryullov transferred all this to the canvas.

The method of restoring the dying poses of the dead by pouring plaster into the voids formed by the bodies was invented only in 1870, but even during the creation of the picture, skeletons discovered in petrified ashes testified to the last convulsions and gestures of the victims.

A mother hugging her two daughters; a young woman who fell to her death when she fell from a chariot that hit a cobblestone that had been torn out of the pavement by an earthquake; people on the steps of the tomb of Scaurus, protecting their heads from rockfall with stools and dishes - all this is not a figment of the artist’s imagination, but an artistically recreated reality.

Self-portrait in a painting

Self-portrait, as well as a girl with a vessel on her head - Julia

The beautiful features of Julia are recognized four times in the picture: a mother hugging her daughters, a woman clutching her baby to her chest, a girl with a vessel on her head, a noble Pompeian woman who fell from a broken chariot.

A self-portrait and portraits of a friend are a conscious “effect of presence”, making the viewer as if a participant in what is happening.

"Just a picture"

It is a known fact that among Karl Bryullov’s students, his painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” had a rather simple name - simply “Painting”. This means that for all the students, this painting was just a painting with a capital P, a painting of paintings. An example can be given: just as the Bible is the book of all books, the word Bible seems to mean the word Book.

Walter Scott: “This is an epic!”

Walter Scott appeared in Rome, whose fame was so enormous that at times he seemed like a mythical creature. The novelist was tall and had a strong build. His red-cheeked peasant face with sparse blond hair combed over his forehead seemed the epitome of health, but everyone knew that Sir Walter Scott never recovered from an apoplexy and came to Italy on the advice of doctors. A sober man, he understood that his days were numbered, and spent time only on what he considered especially important. In Rome, he asked to be taken only to one ancient castle, which he needed for some reason, to Thorvaldsen and Bryullov. Walter Scott sat in front of the painting for several hours, almost motionless, silent for a long time, and Bryullov, no longer expecting to hear his voice, took a brush, so as not to waste time, and began to touch the canvas here and there. Finally, Walter Scott stood up, falling slightly on his right leg, walked up to Bryullov, caught both of his hands in his huge palm and squeezed them tightly:

I expected to see historical novel. But you have created much more. This is epic...

Bible story

Tragic scenes were often depicted in various manifestations of classical art. For example, the destruction of Sodom or the Egyptian plagues. But in such biblical stories it was implied that the execution came from above; here one could see a manifestation of God’s providence. As if biblical story I would not know senseless fate, but only the wrath of God. In the paintings of Karl Bryullov, people were at the mercy of the blind natural elements, fate. There can be no discussion of guilt and punishment here.. You won't be able to find the main character in the picture. It's simply not there. What appears before us is only a crowd, a people who were gripped by fear.

The perception of Pompeii as a vicious city, mired in sins, and its destruction as Divine punishment could be based on some finds that emerged as a result of excavations - these are erotic frescoes in ancient Roman houses, as well as similar sculptures, phallic amulets, pendants, and so on. The publication of these artifacts in the Antichita di Ercolano, published by the Italian Academy and republished in other countries between 1771 and 1780, caused a culture shock reaction - against the backdrop of Winckelmann's postulate about the “noble simplicity and calm grandeur” of ancient art. That's why the public early XIX centuries could associate the eruption of Vesuvius with the biblical punishment brought down on the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Accurate calculations

Eruption of Vesuvius

Having decided to paint a large canvas, K. Bryullov chose one of the most difficult methods of its compositional construction, namely, light-shadow and spatial. This required the artist to accurately calculate the effect of the painting at a distance and mathematically determine the incidence of light. And in order to create the impression of deep space, he had to pay the most serious attention to the aerial perspective.

Blazing in the distance is Vesuvius, from the depths of which rivers of fiery lava flow in all directions. The light from them is so strong that the buildings closest to the volcano seem to be already on fire. One French newspaper noted this pictorial effect that the artist wanted to achieve and pointed out: “An ordinary artist, of course, would not fail to take advantage of the eruption of Vesuvius to illuminate his painting; but Mr. Bryullov neglected this remedy. Genius inspired him with a bold idea, as happy as it was inimitable: to illuminate the entire front part of the picture with the quick, minute and whitish brilliance of lightning, cutting through the thick cloud of ash that covered the city, while the light from the eruption, with difficulty breaking through the deep darkness, casts reddish penumbra into the background.”

At the limit of possibilities

He painted at such a limit of spiritual tension that it happened that he was literally carried out of the studio in their arms. However, even poor health does not stop his work.

Newlyweds

Newlyweds

According to ancient Roman tradition, the heads of newlyweds were decorated with wreaths of flowers. The flammeo, the traditional veil of the ancient Roman bride made of thin yellow-orange fabric, fell from the girl’s head.

Fall of Rome

In the center of the picture, a young woman lies on the pavement, and her unnecessary jewelry is scattered on the stones. Next to her, a small child is crying in fear. A beautiful, beautiful woman, the classical beauty of draperies and gold seems to symbolize a refined culture Ancient Rome dying before our eyes. The artist acts not only as an artist, a master of composition and color, but also as a philosopher, speaking in visible images about the death of a great culture.

Woman with daughters

According to Bryullov, he saw one female and two children’s skeletons, covered in these poses with volcanic ash, at excavations. The artist could associate a mother with two daughters with Yulia Samoilova, who, having no children of her own, took in two girls, relatives of friends, to raise. By the way, the father of the youngest of them, composer Giovanni Pacini, wrote the opera “The Last Day of Pompeii” in 1825, and the fashionable production became one of the sources of inspiration for Bryullov.

Christian priest

In the first century of Christianity, a minister of the new faith could have appeared in Pompeii; in the picture he can be easily recognized by the cross, liturgical utensils - a censer and a chalice - and a scroll with a sacred text. The wearing of body crosses and pectoral crosses in the 1st century has not been confirmed archaeologically. The artist’s amazing technique is to contrast the courageous figure of a Christian priest, who knows no doubt or fear, with a pagan priest running away in fear in the depths of the canvas.

Priest

The status of the character is indicated by the cult objects in his hands and the headband - infula. Contemporaries reproached Bryullov for not bringing to the fore the opposition of Christianity to paganism, but the artist did not have such a goal.

Contrary to the canons

Bryullov wrote almost everything differently than it was supposed to. Every great artist breaks existing rules. In those days, they tried to imitate the creations of old masters who knew how to show the ideal beauty of a person. This is called "CLASSICISM". Therefore, Bryullov does not have distorted faces, crush or confusion. It doesn't have the same crowd as on the street. There is nothing random here, and the characters are divided into groups so that everyone can be seen. And what’s interesting is that the faces in the picture are similar, but the poses are different. The main thing for Bryullov, as well as for ancient sculptors, is to convey human feeling with movement. This difficult art is called “PLASTIC”. Bryullov did not want to disfigure people’s faces or their bodies with either wounds or dirt. This technique in art is called “CONVENTIONALITY”: the artist refuses external plausibility in the name of a high goal: man is the most beautiful creature on earth.

Pushkin and Bryullov

A big event in the artist’s life was his meeting and the friendship that began with Pushkin. They immediately connected and fell in love with each other. In a letter to his wife dated May 4, 1836, the poet writes:

“...I really want to bring Bryullov to St. Petersburg. But he is a real artist, a kind fellow, and is ready for anything. Here Perovsky overwhelmed him, transported him to his place, locked him up and forced him to work. Bryullov forcibly escaped from him.”

“Bryullov is leaving me now. He goes to St. Petersburg reluctantly, afraid of the climate and captivity. I try to console and encourage him; and meanwhile my soul sinks into my boots when I remember that I’m a journalist.”

Less than a month had passed from the day Pushkin sent a letter about Bryullov’s departure to St. Petersburg, when on June 11, 1836, a dinner was given in honor of the famous painter on the premises of the Academy of Arts. Maybe we shouldn’t have celebrated this unremarkable date, June 11th! But the fact is that, by a strange coincidence, it was on June 11, fourteen years later, that Bryullov would come, essentially, to die in Rome... Sick, old.

Celebration of Russia

Karl Pavlovich Bryullov. Artist Zavyalov F.S.

At the Louvre exhibition of 1834, where “The Last Day of Pompeii” was shown, next to Bryullov’s painting hung paintings by Ingres and Delacroix, adherents of the “notorious antique beauty" Critics unanimously scolded Bryullov. For some, his painting was twenty years late, others found in it excessive boldness of imagination, destroying the unity of style. But there were still others - spectators: Parisians crowded for hours in front of “The Last Day of Pompeii” and admired it as unanimously as the Romans. A rare case - the general opinion defeated the judgments of the “noted critics” (as newspapers and magazines called them): the jury did not risk pleasing the “noted ones” - Bryullov received a gold medal of the first dignity. Russia was triumphant.

"Professor out of turn"

The Academy Council, noting that Bryullov’s painting has undeniably the greatest merits, placing it among the extraordinary artistic creations in Europe at the present time, asked His Majesty’s permission to elevate the famous painter to the rank of professor out of turn. Two months later, the minister of the imperial court notified the president of the academy that the sovereign had not given permission and ordered that the charter be adhered to. At the same time, wishing to express a new sign of all-merciful attention to the talents of this artist, His Majesty granted Bryullov a Knight of the Order of St. Anna 3rd degree.

Canvas dimensions

« The last day of Pompeii"is one of the most famous paintings of the great Russian artist (1799 - 1852). The painting was painted in 1830-33. Canvas, oil. 465.5×651 cm. Currently located in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

The plot of the film tells about tragic event, which overtook the ancient Roman city of Pompeii as a result of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The eruption occurred on August 24, 79, resulting in the death of 2,000 people out of the city's population of 20,000. Pompeii was buried under a thick layer of ash for many centuries. After clearing the ashes, it turned out that the city had been perfectly preserved for two thousand years. Bryullov himself visited the tragically famous city in 1827. During the visit, he made the necessary sketches for the painting, after which he began painting the canvas. The artist studied costumes, jewelry and household items of that time while visiting museums.

The epic theme, the intensity of emotions, the tension caused by the horror of the premonition of impending doom, permeated the entire picture. Bryullov achieved drama and tension through the play of chiaroscuro and elements of romanticism, which are observed in the poses and behavior of people. Connoisseurs of painting in Italy, Russia and other countries spoke with delight about this canvas. Walter Scott, Alexander Ivanovich Turgenev, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin and others spoke with admiration about the painting. The canvas was rightfully called the best painting of the century. It is also worth noting that Bryullov himself is depicted in the picture - the man in the left corner. Also depicted here three times are Countess Yulia Pavlovna Samoilova, who often posed for the artist. In the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii,” Countess Samoilova is presented in three images at once: a woman with a jug on her head, a broken woman on the pavement in the center of the canvas, and a mother in the left corner of the painting, hugging her daughters. Nicholas I awarded a laurel wreath to Karl Pavlovich Bryullov for his painting.

Karl Pavlovich Bryullov: The Last Day of Pompeii

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