The last day of Pompeii in which museum is located. Description of the painting

Employees of the Murom Historical and Art Museum. The title of the article is "Masterpiece and Tragedy or the Story of a Painting" and is dedicated to Karl Bryullov's brilliant painting "The Last Day of Pompeii".

I really liked the article, I quoted it, but quotations are rarely read, and with the permission of the author, I put it in its entirety in this post, slightly embellished with reproductions of the picture and musical accompaniment.

Read it, I assure you, you won't regret it...

Passing through the halls of the Murom Gallery, the guests of Murom often freeze in amazement at one nondescript, at first glance, exhibit. This is a simple black and white drawing in a regular frame behind glass. It would seem, why does it attract visitors to the museum so much? However, peering into his faded features, it is difficult to contain an involuntary sigh of admiration. On the yellowish paper of the exhibit, the plot of the most famous painting, familiar to many from childhood, is depicted. Before the guests, Karl Bryullov's sketch for his famous painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" is one of the brightest pearls of the Murom Gallery!

A rare museum can boast of such an acquisition in its collection. Sometimes this sketch surprises even guests from Moscow and St. Petersburg. And they are captivated not only by the uniqueness of the old drawing, but also by the attraction of the tragic plot, conveyed by the genius of the artist.

And indeed, this small yellowed sheet tells the audience not only about the terrible catastrophe of antiquity, but also how the greatest canvas of Russian painting was created.

ON THE EVE OF THE TRAGEDY.

The talented brush of Bryullov revealed to us one of the pictures of the terrible tragedy of the Ancient World. For two fateful days, August 24 and 25, 79 AD, several Roman cities ceased to exist at once - Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae and Octavianum. And the reason for this was the awakening of the volcano Vesuvius, at the foot of which these settlements are located.

People have long and appreciated the high, incomparable fertility of volcanic soils and began to cultivate them from time immemorial. Scientists have written sources at their disposal that more than two thousand years ago, rich harvests were gathered around Vesuvius and on its slopes.

At the beginning of the 1st century Vesuvius was covered in a dense forest with wild grapes. At its top there was an overgrown cup-shaped depression - traces of an ancient crater, preserved after a 300-year dormant period of the volcano. In this crater in 72, Spartacus was hiding with rebellious slaves. 3,000 soldiers, led by Praetor Clodius Pulker, were sent to search for him. However, Spartacus eluded them and broke out onto the plain surrounding the volcano from the north.

Volcanic ashes and tuffs, which covered the gentle slopes of Vesuvius and its environs like a cloak, made the lands around it extraordinarily fertile. Corn, barley, nuts, wheat, grapes grew especially well. No wonder this area is famous for its excellent wines.

And at the beginning of a new era, the area near the Gulf of Naples was also a favorite place of residence for wealthy Romans. In the north was the city of Herculaneum, to the south were Pompeii and Stabia - three kind of suburban suburbs of Naples. The patricians were attracted here by the mild and warm climate. Therefore, this part of the coast of the bay near Naples was built up with rich villas.

The first signs of Vesuvius's unrest were seen as early as mid-August 79. But at the time it didn't bother anyone. Similar surprises have been seen behind the volcano before. The last time he thoroughly "disturbed" Pompeii was on February 5, 62 AD. A powerful earthquake destroyed the city in order, but this did not serve as a lesson to its inhabitants. They were in no hurry to leave their homes. And this is no accident!

So, for the next 15 years, Pompeii was built - the inhabitants of the city restored the houses destroyed by the earthquake and built new buildings.

Oddly enough, the townspeople, despite the cruel lesson of fate, did not take Vesuvius seriously and did not expect further trouble from him.

The tremors didn't really bother the townspeople. Each time they closed the cracks in the houses, updating the interior and adding new decorations along the way. No panic.

DAY OF THE ANGER OF THE GODS.

Vesuvius opened the pharynx - the smoke gushed out in a club - the flame
widely developed like a battle flag.
The earth is worried - from the staggering columns
Idols are falling! A people driven by fear
Under the stone rain, under the inflamed ashes,
Crowds, old and young, run out of the city.

A.S. Pushkin.

August 24 began as the most ordinary day in the life of Pompeii. In the morning, there were no signs of an impending tragedy. The bright sun flooded the streets of the city. People slowly went about their business, discussing the latest news. Shops worked, incense was smoked in the temples, and in the city theater they were preparing for a performance - on this day, regular gladiator fights were to take place. These handsome warriors proudly strolled through the streets of Pompeii, laughing, reading the inscriptions on the walls of the houses, which were left to them by numerous admirers.

Now, almost 2,000 years later, we know literally minute by minute what happened in those tragic days. And this is thanks to two amazing letters of Pliny the Younger - an eyewitness to the tragedy.

On August 24, at about 2 pm, a giant white cloud with brown spots began to rise rapidly over Vesuvius. It grew and spread to the sides at a height, resembling the crown of a Mediterranean pine - pine. A terrible roar was heard near the volcano, and continuous tremors occurred, which were also felt in Miseno (about 30 km from Pompeii), where Pliny's family was located. The lines of his letter say that the shaking was so strong that the wagons were thrown from side to side, roof tiles fell off the houses and statues and obelisks collapsed.

The sky suddenly became formidable, the cloud became darker and darker ...

Behind the abundant ashfall, the sun completely disappeared, and pitch darkness fell. This further increased the anxiety and confusion of the people. At the same time, there were heavy showers on the western slopes of the volcano, which often occur during eruptions. Loose ash and pumice layers on the slopes, "saturated" with water, rushed down with powerful mud, apparently , hot streams - lahars. Three such streams, following one after another, covered the city of Herculaneum, located on the seashore, destroying all life in the blink of an eye.

Hercalanum was the first to die, since it was located almost at the foot of Vesuvius. Its inhabitants of the city, who tried to flee, died under the lava and ash.

The fate of Pompeii was different. Here there was no stream of mud, from which, apparently, flight was the only escape; here it all started with volcanic ash that could be easily shaken off. However, lapilli soon began to fall, then pieces of pumice, several kilograms each.

The whole danger became clear only gradually. And when people finally realized what was threatening them, it was already too late. Sulfur fumes descended on the city; they crawled into all the cracks, penetrated under the bandages and scarves with which people covered their faces - it became more and more difficult to breathe ... Trying to break free, take a breath of fresh air, the townspeople ran out into the street - here they fell under a hail of lapilli and returned in horror , but as soon as they crossed the threshold of the house, the ceiling collapsed on them, burying them under its debris. . It was impossible to go outside without covering your head with a pillow, as heavy stones fell on your head along with the ashes. Some managed to delay their death: they huddled under the stairwells and in the galleries, spending the last half an hour of their lives there in deathly fear. Later, however, sulfur fumes penetrated there as well.

By the time the terrified residents realized the seriousness and danger of their situation, the streets were already buried under a thick layer of ash, and it kept falling and falling from the sky. Soft ash on the ground, falling ash from the sky, sulphurous fumes in the air...

People, mad with fear and horror, fled, stumbled and fell, dying right on the streets, and they were instantly covered with ashes. Some of them decided to stay in houses where there was no ash, but the houses quickly filled with poisonous fumes, and hundreds of people died from suffocation. Many found their death under the ruins of their own houses, were crushed by roofs that collapsed under the weight of ash.

The last blow of Vesuvius to the unfortunate cities was the fiery wall of lava, which forever buried the once flourishing settlements.

Forty-eight hours later, the sun shone again, but both Pompeii and Herculaneum had already ceased to exist by that time .. In place of olives and green vineyards, in marble villas and throughout the city, ash and undulating lava lay. Everything within a radius of eighteen kilometers was destroyed. Moreover, the ashes were carried even to Syria and Egypt.

Now, over Vesuvius, only a thin column of smoke was visible, and the sky was blue again ...

However, despite the scope of the tragedy, only two thousand of the twenty thousand inhabitants of Pompeii died. Many residents realized in time what the eruption could threaten them with, and tried to quickly leave for a safe place.

Nearly seventeen centuries have passed. In the middle of the 18th century, people of a different culture, other customs took up spades and dug up what had been lying underground for so long.

Before the excavations began, only the very fact of the death of two cities during the eruption of Vesuvius was known. Now this tragic incident gradually emerged more and more clearly, and the reports of ancient writers about it were clothed in flesh and blood. The terrifying scope of this catastrophe and its suddenness became more and more visible: everyday life was interrupted so rapidly that the pigs remained in the ovens, and the bread in the ovens. What story could, for example, be told by the remains of two skeletons, on whose legs slave chains were still preserved? What did these people survive - shackled, helpless, in those hours when everything around was dying? What agony must have been experienced by this dog before dying? She was found under the ceiling of one of the rooms: chained, she rose along with a growing layer of lapilli, penetrating into the room through windows and doors, until, finally, she stumbled upon an insurmountable barrier - the ceiling, yelped for the last time and suffocated.

Under the blows of the spade, pictures of the death of families, terrifying human dramas, were revealed. . Some mothers were found with children in their arms; trying to save the children, they covered them with the last piece of cloth, but they died together. Some men and women managed to grab their treasures and run to the gate, but here they were overtaken by a hail of lapilli, and they died, clutching their jewelry and money in their hands.

"Cave Canem" - "Beware of the dog" reads the inscription from the mosaic in front of the door of a house. On the threshold of this house, two girls died: they hesitated to escape, trying to collect their things, and then it was too late to run. At the Hercules Gate, the bodies of the dead lay almost side by side; the load of household belongings that they dragged turned out to be unbearable for them. In one of the rooms, the skeletons of a woman and a dog were found. A careful study made it possible to restore the tragedy that had played out here. Indeed, why was the skeleton of the dog preserved in its entirety, while the remains of the woman were scattered throughout the room? Who could scatter them? Maybe they were taken away by a dog, in which, under the influence of hunger, wolf nature woke up? Perhaps she delayed the day of her death by attacking her own mistress and tearing her to pieces. Not far away, in another house, the events of the fateful day interrupted the wake. The participants in the feast were reclining around the table; so they were found seventeen centuries later - they turned out to be participants in their own funeral.

In one place, death overtook seven children who were playing, suspecting nothing, in a room. In the other, there are thirty-four people and with them a goat, which, apparently, was trying desperately to ring its bell to find salvation in the imaginary strength of a human dwelling. The one who was too slow to escape, neither courage, nor prudence, nor strength could help. A skeleton of a truly Herculean man was found; he also proved unable to protect his wife and fourteen-year-old daughter, who ran ahead of him: all three remained lying on the road. True, in the last effort, the man apparently made one more attempt to rise, but, intoxicated by poisonous fumes, he slowly sank to the ground, rolled over on his back and froze. The ashes that covered him, as it were, took a mold from his body; scientists poured gypsum into this form and received a sculptural image of the deceased Pompeian.

One can imagine what a noise, what a rumble was heard in a covered house, when a person left in it or lagging behind the others suddenly discovered that it was no longer possible to get out through the windows and doors; he tried to cut a hole in the wall with an axe; not finding a way to salvation here, he took to the second wall, and when a stream rushed towards him from this wall, he, exhausted, sank to the floor.

The houses, the temple of Isis, the amphitheater - everything has been preserved intact. There were wax tablets in the offices, papyrus scrolls in the libraries, tools in the workshops, strigils (scrapers) in the baths. On the tables in the taverns there were still dishes and money, thrown in a hurry by the last visitors. Love poems and beautiful frescoes have been preserved on the walls of the taverns.

“AND THE LAST DAY OF POMPEI WAS THE FIRST DAY FOR THE RUSSIAN BRUSH…”

For the first time, Karl Bryullov visited the excavations of Pompeii in the summer of 1827. The history of the tragic catastrophe that befell the ancient city completely captured all the thoughts of the painter. Most likely, it was then that he had the idea to create a monumental historical picture.

The artist began to collect the necessary materials before starting to paint the picture. An important source of information was for him the letters of an eyewitness to the catastrophe, Pliny the Younger, to the Roman historian Tacitus, which contained details of the catastrophe.

Bryullov studied the customs of ancient Italy, visited Naples several times, explored the ruined Pompeii, walked along its streets, examined in detail the houses preserved under volcanic ash with all the furnishings and utensils. He visited the Neapolitan Museum, where there were amazingly living prints of the bodies of people covered with hot ash. He makes a series of sketches: landscapes, ruins, petrified figures.

The artist visited Pacini's opera The Last Day of Pompeii several times and dressed his sitters in the costumes of the heroes of this performance. Based on the materials of archaeological excavations, Bryullov writes not only all household items. He will depict some figures in the very poses that have been preserved by the voids formed in the frozen lava in place of the incinerated bodies - a mother with her daughters, a woman who fell from a chariot, a group of young spouses. The artist took the image of a young man with his mother from Pliny.

In 1830 the artist began work on a large canvas. He wrote at such a limit of spiritual tension that it happened that he was literally taken out of the studio in his arms. However, even shaken health does not stop his work.

And so the final composition of the picture was born.

The crowd in the picture is divided into separate groups, according to which the viewer gradually reads the artist's literary intention - to depict the feelings and behavior of people in the face of death.

Each group has its own content, arising from the general content of the picture. The mother seeks to shelter the children. The sons save the old father, carry him on their shoulders. The groom carries off the unconscious bride. A weak mother convinces her son not to burden himself, and the father of the family tries to cover his loved ones with the last movement in his life. But here is a rider, who has much more chances to escape than others, rushes at full speed, not wanting to help anyone. And the priest, whom they used to listen to and trust, cowardly leaves the dying city, hoping to go unnoticed.

In one of the background groups, the artist depicted himself. In his eyes, not so much the horror of death, but the close attention of the artist, exacerbated by the terrible sight. He carries on his head the most precious thing - a box with paints and other painting accessories. It seems that he slowed down his steps and tries to remember the picture that unfolded before him.

And here is the finished painting. Preparation for work as a masterpiece took six years of the master's life (1827-1833). But her success was also grandiose.

Long before graduation in Rome, they began to talk about the marvelous work of the Russian artist. When the doors of his studio on St. Claudius Street opened wide to the public, and when the painting was later exhibited in Milan, the Italians were indescribably delighted. The name of Karl Bryullov immediately became known throughout the Italian peninsula - from one end to the other. When meeting in the streets, everyone took off his 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, there were always many people gathered to greet him.

The real triumph awaited K. Bryullov at home. The picture was brought to Russia in July 1834, and it immediately became the subject of patriotic pride, was in the center of attention of Russian society. Numerous engraved and lithographic reproductions of "The Last Day of Pompeii" spread the glory of K. Bryullov far beyond the capital. The best representatives of Russian culture enthusiastically welcomed the famous painting: A.S. Pushkin translated his story into verse, N.V. Gogol called the picture "a universal creation", in which everything "is so powerful, so bold, so harmoniously brought into one, as soon as it could arise in the head of a universal genius." But even these own praises seemed insufficient to the writer, and he called the picture "a bright resurrection of painting. He (K. Bryullov) is trying to grab nature with gigantic embraces."

E.A. Boratynsky, composed a laudatory ode on this occasion. Words from which - "The last day of Pompeii became the first day for the Russian brush!" - later became a famous aphorism.

The owner of the painting, Anatoly Demidov, presented the painting to Nicholas I, who exhibited the painting at the Academy of Arts as a guide for beginner painters. After the opening of the Russian Museum in 1895, the canvas was exhibited there, and the general public gained access to it.

Note.

This is what the painter Karl Pavlovich Bryullov looked like while working on his painting. This is a self-portrait of the artist, dated "circa 1833". He was only 28 years old when he started this work, and 34 when he finished the picture.

This is how he depicted himself on the canvas (remember, with a box on his head ...), he can best be seen on the first fragment of the picture from above.

Bryullov Karl Pavlovich (1799-1852). "The last day of Pompeii"

At the magical touch of his brush, historical, portrait, watercolor, perspective, landscape painting was resurrected, to which he gave living examples in his paintings. The artist's brush barely had time to follow his imagination, images of virtues and vices swarmed in his head, constantly replacing one another, entire historical events grew to the most vivid concrete outlines.

Self-portrait. Around 1833

Karl Bryullov was 28 years old when he decided to paint a grandiose painting "The Last Day of Pompeii". The artist owed his interest in this topic to his older brother, the architect Alexander Bryullov, who acquainted him in detail with the excavations of 1824-1825. K. Bryullov himself was in Rome during these years, the fifth year of his retirement in Italy was expiring. He already had several serious works that had considerable success in the artistic environment, but none of them seemed to the artist himself quite worthy of his talent. He felt that he had not yet justified the hopes placed on him.

"The last day of Pompeii"
1830-1833
Canvas, oil. 456.5 x 651 cm
State Russian Museum

For a long time, Karl Bryullov was haunted by the conviction that he could create a work more significant than those that he had done so far. Conscious of his strength, he wanted to complete a large and complex picture and thereby destroy the rumors that were beginning to walk around Rome. He was especially annoyed by the Cavalier Kammuchini, who at that time was considered the first Italian painter. It was he who was distrustful of the talent of the Russian artist and often said: "Well, this Russian painter is capable of small things. But a colossal work but someone bigger!"

Others, although they recognized Karl Bryullov's great talent, noted that frivolity and a distracted life would never allow him to concentrate on a serious work. Incited by these conversations, Karl Bryullov was constantly looking for a plot for a big picture that would glorify his name. For a long time he could not dwell on any of the topics that came to his mind. Finally, he attacked the plot, which took possession of all his thoughts.

At that time, Paccini's opera "L" Ultimo giorno di Pompeia "was successfully staged on the stages of many Italian theaters. There is no doubt that Karl Bryullov saw her, and maybe even more than once. In addition, together with the nobleman A. N. Demidov (Chamber Junker and Cavalier of His Majesty the Emperor of Russia) he examined the destroyed Pompeii, he knew for himself what a strong impression these ruins make on the viewer, preserving traces of ancient chariots; these houses, as if only recently abandoned by their owners; these public buildings and temples , amphitheatres, where, as if only yesterday, gladiator fights ended; suburban tombs with the names and titles of those whose ashes are still preserved in the surviving urns.

All around, just like many centuries ago, lush green vegetation covered the remains of the unfortunate city. And above all this rises the dark cone of Vesuvius, menacingly smoking in the friendly azure sky. In Pompeii, Bryullov vividly asked the ministers who had been supervising the excavations for a long time about all the details.

Of course, the impressionable and receptive soul of the artist responded to the thoughts and feelings excited by the remains of the ancient Italian city. At one of these moments, the thought flashed through his mind to present these scenes on a large canvas. He reported this idea to A.N. Demidov with such fervor that he promised to give funds for the execution of this plan and to purchase the future painting for Karl Bryullov in advance.

With love and fervor Karl Bryullov set to work on the execution of the painting and quite soon made the initial sketch. However, other activities distracted the artist from Demidov's order, and by the deadline (end of 1830) the picture was not ready. Dissatisfied with such circumstances, A.N. Demidov almost destroyed the terms of the agreement concluded between them, and only the assurances of K. Bryullov that he would immediately set to work corrected the whole matter.

The last day of Pompeii 1827-1830

The last day of Pompeii 1827-1830

The last day of Pompeii. 1828

Indeed, he set to work with such zeal that in two years he completed a colossal canvas. The brilliant artist drew his inspiration not only from the ruins of the destroyed Pompeii, he was also inspired by the classical prose of Pliny the Younger, who described the eruption of Vesuvius in his letter to the Roman historian Tacitus.

Striving for the greatest reliability of the image, Bryullov studied the excavation materials and historical documents. The architectural structures in the picture were restored by him from the remains of ancient monuments, household items and women's jewelry were copied from exhibits in the Neapolitan Museum. The figures and heads of the depicted people are painted mainly from nature, from the inhabitants of Rome. Numerous sketches of individual figures, entire groups and sketches of the painting show the author's desire for maximum psychological, plastic and coloristic expressiveness.

Bryullov built the picture as separate episodes, at first glance unrelated. The connection becomes clear only when the gaze of all groups, the whole picture is simultaneously covered.

Long before graduation in Rome, they began to talk about the marvelous work of the Russian artist. When the doors of his studio on St. Claudius Street opened wide to the public, and when the painting was later exhibited in Milan, the Italians were indescribably delighted. The name of Karl Bryullov immediately became known throughout the Italian peninsula - from one end to the other. When meeting in the streets, everyone took off his 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, there were always many people gathered to greet him.

Italian newspapers and magazines glorified Karl Bryullov as a genius, equal to the greatest painters of all time, poets sang him in verse, entire treatises were written about his new painting. The English writer V. Scott called it the epic of painting, and Kammuchini (ashamed of his previous statements) embraced K. Bryullov and called him a colossus. Since the Renaissance, not a single artist in Italy has been the object of such universal worship as Karl Bryullov.

He presented to the astonished eye all the virtues of an impeccable artist, although it has long been known that even the greatest painters did not equally possess all the perfections in their happiest combination. However, the drawing by K. Bryullov, the lighting of the picture, its artistic style are absolutely inimitable. 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.

What is depicted in the painting by Karl Bryullov?

Vesuvius blazing in the distance, from the bowels 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 on fire. One French newspaper noted this pictorial effect, which 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 picture; but Mr. Bryullov neglected this means. Genius inspired him with a bold idea, just as happy, as well as inimitable: to illuminate the entire front of the picture with a quick, minute and whitish brilliance of lightning, cutting through a thick cloud of ash that enveloped the city, while the light from the eruption, with difficulty breaking through deep darkness, throws a reddish penumbra into the background.

Indeed, the main color scheme that K. Bryullov chose for his painting was extremely bold for that time. It was a gamut of the spectrum, built on blue, red and yellow colors illuminated by white light. Green, pink, blue are found as intermediate tones.

Having decided to paint a large canvas, K. Bryullov chose one of the most difficult ways of his 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. Also, to create the impression of deep space, he had to pay the most serious attention to the aerial perspective.

In the center of the canvas is the prostrate figure of a murdered young woman, as if it was with her that Karl Bryullov wanted to symbolize the dying ancient world (a hint of such an interpretation was already met in the reviews of contemporaries). This noble family retired in a chariot, hoping to save themselves in a hasty flight. But, alas, it was too late: death overtook them on the very path. Frightened horses shake the reins, the reins are torn, the axis of the chariot breaks, and the woman sitting in them falls to the ground and dies. Next to the unfortunate lie various jewelry and precious items that she took with her on her last journey. And the unbridled horses carry her husband further - also to certain death, and he tries in vain to stay in the chariot. A child reaches for the lifeless body of the mother...

The unfortunate townspeople are looking for salvation, driven by fire, continuous eruptions of lava and falling ash. This is a whole tragedy of human horror and human suffering. The city perishes in a sea of ​​fire, statues, buildings - everything falls down and flies to the distraught crowd. How many varied faces and positions, how many colors in these faces!

Here is a courageous warrior and his young brother in a hurry to shelter their aged father from the inevitable death ... They carry a relaxed old man who is trying to push aside, remove the terrible ghost of death from himself, trying to shield himself from the ashes falling on him with his hand. The dazzling brilliance of lightning, reflected on his forehead, makes the old man's body shudder... And on the left, near the Christian, a group of women looks longingly at the ominous sky...

One of the first to appear in the picture was Pliny's group with his mother. A young man in a wide-brimmed hat is leaning toward the elderly woman in impetuous movement. Here (in the right corner of the picture) the figure of a mother with her daughters looms...

The owner of the painting, A.N. Demidov, was delighted with the resounding success of "The Last Day of Pompeii" and certainly wanted to show the picture in Paris. Thanks to his efforts, it was exhibited at the Art Salon of 1834, but even before that, the French had heard about the exceptional success of K. Bryullov's painting with the Italians. But a completely different situation reigned in the French painting of the 1830s, it was the scene of a fierce struggle between various artistic movements, and therefore the work of K. Bryullov was met without the enthusiasm that fell to his lot in Italy. Despite the fact that the reviews of the French press were not very favorable for the artist, the French Academy of Arts awarded Karl Bryullov an honorary gold medal.

The real triumph awaited K. Bryullov at home. The picture was brought to Russia in July 1834, and it immediately became the subject of patriotic pride, was in the center of attention of Russian society. Numerous engraved and lithographic reproductions of "The Last Day of Pompeii" spread the glory of K. Bryullov far beyond the capital. The best representatives of Russian culture enthusiastically welcomed the famous painting: A.S. Pushkin translated his story into verse, N.V. Gogol called the picture "a universal creation", in which everything "is so powerful, so bold, so harmoniously brought into one, as soon as it could arise in the head of a universal genius." But even these own praises seemed insufficient to the writer, and he called the picture "a bright resurrection of painting. He (K. Bryullov) is trying to grab nature with gigantic embraces."

Yevgeny Baratynsky dedicated the following lines to Karl Bryullov:

He brought peaceful trophies
With you in the father's shade.
And there was "The Last Day of Pompeii"
For the Russian brush, the first day.

"One Hundred Great Paintings" by N.A. Ionina, publishing house "Veche", 2002

Original entry and comments on

The last day of Pompeii - Karl Pavlovich Bryullov. 1830. Oil on canvas. 456.5x651

An outstanding master of historical paintings and portraits, Karl Pavlovich Bryullov (1799-1852) is a bright representative of romanticism painting, which colored the era of the first half of the XlX century. He was often accompanied by the epithets "Brilliant Karl", "Karl the Magnificent", rarely anyone had such fame and recognition of his contemporaries. Having received an art education in Russia, Bryullov left to improve his painting skills in Italy.

About the plot of the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii"

The plot of the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" taken from ancient history - the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the collapse of the city of Pompeii (II century BC). The omnipotence of blind fate is a favorite theme of the art of romanticism. The death of people, their confusion and horror before the impending collapse of the city are conveyed by the artist in an interesting and complex multi-figured composition. With the theatrical showiness of poses and gestures, various facial expressions, fluttering draperies of clothes, the painter shows the whole drama of the scene, however, despite the impending death, the heroes do not lose their beauty and greatness of spirit even in suffering. This was the philosophy and aesthetics of romanticism. Bryullov's painting, with the master's inherent rapture of the beauty of form and the solemnity of bright color, contributes to the transfer of the pathetic mood of the unfolding action.

After the execution of this monumental canvas, the artist gained European fame. Having moved to Italy at the end of his life, he finally settled there and became an honorary member of the Academies of Arts in Milan, Florence, Bologna and the Academy of St. Luke in Rome.

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

In honor of the Russian artist, dinners and receptions were arranged, 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 honors ended with the fact that fans with songs carried him in their arms.

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

It is hard to imagine the enthusiasm and patriotic upsurge with which the picture was received in St. Petersburg: 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 presented it academies 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 the salons, shared opinions in private correspondence, made notes in diaries. The honorary nickname "Charlemagne" was established for Bryullov.

Impressed by the picture, Pushkin wrote a six-line:
“Vesuvius zev opened - smoke gushed in a club - flame
Widely developed like a battle banner.
The earth is worried - from the staggering columns
Idols are falling! A people driven by fear
Under the stone rain, under the inflamed ashes,
Crowds, old and young, run out of the city.

Gogol devoted a remarkably profound article to The Last Day of Pompeii, and the poet Yevgeny Baratynsky expressed the general jubilation in a well-known impromptu:

« You brought peaceful trophies
With you in the paternal shade,
And became "The Last Day of Pompeii"
For the Russian brush, the first day!

Immoderate enthusiasm has long subsided, but even today Bryullov's painting makes a strong impression, going beyond the limits of those sensations that painting, even very good, usually evokes in us. What's the matter here?

"Street of the Tombs" In the background is the Herculaneus Gate.
Photo of the second half of the 19th century.

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

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

To express this "new feeling", to create a new image of antiquity - not an abstract museum, but a holistic and full-blooded one, the artist strove in his picture. 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 canvas itself with an area of ​​30 square meters, the rest of the time was taken up by preparatory work.

“I took this scenery all from nature, without retreating at all and without adding, 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.Pompeii had eight gates, butfurther the artist mentioned “the stairs leading to Sepolcri Sc au ro "- the monumental tomb of the eminent citizen Skavr, and this gives us the opportunity to accurately establish the scene chosen by Bryullov. It's about the Herculanean Gates 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. already well cleared, which allowed the painter to reconstruct architecture on canvas with maximum accuracy.

Tomb of Skaurus. Reconstruction of the 19th century

Recreating the picture of the eruption, Bryullov followed the famous messages of Pliny the Younger to Tacitus. The young Pliny survived the eruption in the seaport of Miseno, north of Pompeii, and described in detail what he saw: houses that seemed to have moved from their places, flames spread widely along the cone of the volcano, hot pumice stones falling from the sky, heavy rain of ash, black impenetrable darkness , fiery zigzags, similar to giant lightning ... And all this Bryullov transferred to the canvas.

Seismologists are amazed at how convincingly he portrayed the earthquake: looking at collapsing houses, you 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 argue 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 the archaeological museum of Naples. The way to restore the death poses of the dead by pouring lime into the voids formed from the bodies was invented only in 1870, but even during the creation of the picture, the skeletons found in the petrified ashes testified to the last convulsions and gestures of the victims. Mother hugging two daughters; a young woman who was crushed to death when she fell from a chariot that ran into a cobblestone, turned out of the pavement by an earthquake; people on the steps of the tomb of Skaurus, protecting their heads from rockfall with stools and dishes - all this is not a figment of the painter's fantasy, 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 a baby to her chest, a noble Pompeian who fell from a broken chariot. A self-portrait and portraits of a girlfriend are the best evidence that in his penetration into the past, Bryullov really became related to the event, creating a “presence effect” for the viewer, making him, as it were, a participant in what is happening.

Fragment of the picture:
Bryullov's self-portraitand a portrait of Yulia Samoilova.
Fragment of the picture:
compositional "triangle" - a mother hugging her daughters.

Bryullov's painting pleased everyone - both strict academicians, zealots of the aesthetics of classicism, and those who valued novelty in art and for whom "Pompeii" became, according to Gogol, "a bright resurrection of painting."This novelty was brought to Europe by a fresh wind of romanticism. The dignity of Bryullov's painting is usually seen in the fact that the brilliant pupil 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 to the artist's routine past. But it seems that another turn of the theme is also possible: the fusion of two “isms” turned out to be fruitful for the picture.

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 something else in the picture that opposes the chaos of the catastrophe: an unshakable core in a world shaking to its foundations. This core is the classical balance of the most complex composition, which saves the picture from the tragic sense 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 lively tense context of the picture in a completely different way than in 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 painting: dead Pompeian.

“The world is still harmonious in its foundations” - this feeling arises in the viewer subconsciously, partly contrary to what he sees on the canvas. The hopeful message of the artist is read not at the level of the plot of the picture, but at the level of its plastic solution.The violent romantic element is subdued by the 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 trying to convince an exhausted old woman 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 argument with his mother, who urged her son to leave her and, without delay, run away, and he did not agree to leave the weak woman. A helmeted warrior and a boy are carrying a sick old man; a baby, miraculously surviving a fall from a chariot, embraces a dead mother; the young man raised his hand, as if to divert the blow of the elements from his family, the baby in the arms of his wife, with childish curiosity, reaches for the dead bird. People try to take away the most precious things with them: a pagan priest - a tripod, a Christian - a censer, an artist - brushes. The dead woman was carrying jewelry, which, useless, 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 the picture can be dangerous for painting, making the canvas a "story in pictures", but Bryullov's literary character and abundance of details do not destroy the artistic integrity of the picture. Why? We find the answer in the same article by Gogol, who compares Bryullov’s painting “in terms of its vastness and the combination of all that is beautiful in itself with opera, if only opera is really 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 - synthetic: the picture organically combines a dramatic plot, vivid entertainment and thematic polyphony, similar to music. (By the way, the theatrical basis of the painting 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 theater of San Carlo. Bryullov was well acquainted with the composer, listened to the opera several times and borrowed costumes for his sitters.)

William Turner. Vesuvius eruption. 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 the 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 grips us in front of a picture is akin to what we experience in the theater, when what is happening on the stage touches us to tears, and these tears are heart-pleasing.

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

Bryullov's painting is breathtakingly beautiful: a huge size - four and a half by six and a half meters, amazing "special effects", divinely built people, like antique statues come to life. “His figures are beautiful despite the horror of his position. They drown it out with their beauty,” Gogol wrote, sensitively capturing another feature of the picture - the aestheticization of the catastrophe. 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 of a black cloud pressing on the city, a shining flame on the slopes of a volcano and ruthlessly bright flashes of lightning, these statues captured at the very moment of falling and 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, ​​Admiral Nelson's girlfriend). 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 18-19 centuries), verbal descriptions and sketches of its changing beauties, climbing to the crater - these were the entertainments of the Neapolitan elite and visitors.

It is human nature to follow with bated breath the disastrous and beautiful games of nature, even if for this you have to balance at the mouth of an active volcano. This is the same “rapture in battle and the gloomy abyss on the edge”, which Pushkin wrote about in “Little Tragedies”, and which Bryullov conveyed in his canvas, which for almost two centuries has made us admire and be horrified.

Modern Pompeii

Medieval Christians considered Vesuvius the shortest road to hell. And not without reason: people and cities died from its eruptions more than once. But the most famous eruption of Vesuvius happened on August 24, 79 AD, which destroyed the flourishing city of Pompeii, located at the foot of the volcano. For more than a thousand and a half years, Pompeii remained buried under a layer of volcanic lava and ash. The city was first discovered quite by accident at the end of the 16th century during earthworks.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii
oil on canvas 456 x 651 cm

Archaeological excavations began here in the middle of the 18th century. They were of particular interest not only in Italy, but throughout the world. Many travelers aspired to visit Pompeii, where literally at every step there were evidence of the suddenly cut short life of the ancient city.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)

1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

In 1827, a young Russian artist, Karl Bryullov, arrived in Pompeii. Going to Pompeii, Bryullov did not know that this trip would lead him to the pinnacle of creativity. The sight of Pompeii stunned him. He walked all the nooks and crannies of the city, touched the walls, rough from boiling lava, and, perhaps, he had the idea to paint a picture of the last day of Pompeii.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Ludwig van Beethoven *Symphony No. 5 - B minor*

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

From the idea of ​​the picture to its completion will take a long six years. Bryullov begins with the study of historical sources. He reads the letters of Pliny the Younger, an eyewitness to the events, to the Roman historian Tacitus. In search of authenticity, the artist also turns to the materials of archaeological excavations, he depicts some figures in those poses in which the skeletons of the victims of Vesuvius were found in hardened lava.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Almost all items were painted by Bryullov from authentic items stored in the Neapolitan Museum. The surviving drawings, sketches and sketches show how persistently the artist was looking for the most expressive composition. And even when the sketch of the future canvas was ready, Bryullov regroups the scene about a dozen times, changes gestures, movements, poses.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

In 1830 the artist began work on a large canvas. He wrote at such a limit of spiritual tension that it happened that he was literally taken out of the studio in his arms. Finally, by the middle of 1833, the picture was ready. The canvas was exhibited in Rome, where it received enthusiastic reviews from critics, and forwarded to the Louvre in Paris. This work was the first painting by the artist that aroused such interest abroad. Walter Scott called the picture "unusual, epic."

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

... Black darkness hung over the earth. A blood-red glow paints the sky near the horizon, and a blinding flash of lightning momentarily breaks the darkness.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

In the face of death, the essence of the human soul is exposed. Here the young Pliny persuades his mother, who has fallen to the ground, to gather the remnants of her strength and try to escape.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Here are the sons carrying the old man on their shoulders, trying to quickly deliver the precious burden to a safe place. Raising his hand towards the crumbling skies, the man is ready to protect his loved ones with his chest.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Nearby is a kneeling mother with children. With what inexpressible tenderness they huddle together! Above them is a Christian shepherd with a cross around his neck, with a torch and a censer in his hands. With calm fearlessness, he looks at the flaming skies and the crumbling statues of the former gods.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

The canvas also depicts Countess Yulia Pavlovna Samoilova three times - a woman with a jug on her head, standing on a dais on the left side of the canvas; a woman who has crashed to death, sprawled on the pavement, and next to her a living child (both, presumably, were thrown out of a broken chariot) - in the center of the canvas; and a mother attracting her daughters to her, in the left corner of the picture.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

And in the depths of the canvas, he is opposed by a pagan priest, running in fear with an altar under his arm. Such a somewhat naive allegory proclaims the advantages of the Christian religion over the outgoing pagan one.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

On the left in the background is a crowd of fugitives on the steps of the tomb of Skaurus. In it, we notice an artist saving the most precious thing - a box with brushes and paints. This is a self-portrait of Karl Bryullov.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

The most central figure of the canvas - a noble woman who fell from a chariot, symbolizes the beautiful, but already outgoing ancient world. The baby mourning her is an allegory of the new world, a symbol of the inexhaustible power of life. "The Last Day of Pompeii" convinces that the main value in the world is a person. Bryullov contrasts the destructive forces of nature with the spiritual greatness and beauty of man. Brought up on the aesthetics of classicism, the artist strives to give his heroes ideal features and plastic perfection, although it is known that residents of Rome posed for many of them.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

In the autumn of 1833, the painting appeared at an exhibition in Milan and caused an explosion of delight and admiration. An even greater triumph awaited Bryullov at home. Exhibited in the Hermitage and then at the Academy of Arts, the painting became a subject of patriotic pride. She was enthusiastically welcomed by A.S. Pushkin:

Vesuvius zev opened - smoke gushed in a club - flame
Widely developed like a battle banner.
The earth worries - from staggering columns
Idols are falling! A people driven by fear
Crowds, old and young, under inflamed ashes,
Under the stone rain runs out of the hail.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Indeed, the worldwide fame of Bryullov's painting forever destroyed the disparaging attitude towards Russian artists that existed even in Russia itself.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

In the eyes of contemporaries, the work of Karl Bryullov was proof of the originality of the national artistic genius. Bryullov was compared with the great Italian masters. Poets dedicated poems to him. He was greeted with applause in the street and in the theater. A year later, the French Academy of Arts awarded the artist a gold medal for the painting after her participation in the Paris Salon.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

The breaking of fate reveals the characters. Caring sons carry a weak father out of hell. The mother covers the children. The desperate young man, having gathered his last strength, does not let go of the precious cargo - the bride. And the handsome man on a white horse hurries away alone: ​​rather, rather, save himself, his beloved. Vesuvius mercilessly demonstrates to people not only their insides, but also their own. Thirty-year-old Karl Bryullov understood this perfectly. And showed us.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

"And there was" The Last Day of Pompeii "for the Russian brush the first day," the poet Yevgeny Baratynsky exulted. Truly so: the picture was triumphantly greeted in Rome, where he painted it, and then in Russia, and Sir Walter Scott somewhat pompously called the picture "unusual, epic."

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

And there was success. And paintings, and masters. And in the fall of 1833, the painting appeared at an exhibition in Milan and the triumph of Karl Bryullov reached its highest point. The name of the Russian master immediately became known throughout the Italian peninsula - from one end to the other.

Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
The last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Enthusiastic reviews about "The Last Day of Pompeii" and its author were printed in Italian newspapers and magazines. Bryullov was greeted with applause on the street, they gave a standing ovation in the theater. Poets dedicated poems to him. During the journeys on the borders of the Italian principalities, he was not required to present a passport - it was believed that every Italian was obliged to know him by sight.