Russian artist Karl Bryullov was undoubtedly quite respected for his skill long before the creation of this masterpiece. Nevertheless, it was “The Last Day of Pompeii” that brought Bryullov, without exaggeration, worldwide fame. Why did the disaster picture have such an impact on the public, and what secrets does it hide from viewers to this day?
Why Pompeii?
At the end of August 79 AD, as a result of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae and many small villages became the graves of several thousand local residents. Real archaeological excavations of areas that had sunk into oblivion began only in 1748, that is, 51 years before the birth of Karl Bryullov himself. It is clear that archaeologists worked not just for one day, but for several decades. Thanks to this circumstance, the artist was able to personally visit the excavations and wander through the ancient Roman streets already freed from solidified lava. Moreover, at that moment Pompeii turned out to be the most cleared.
Countess Yulia Samoilova, for whom Karl Pavlovich had warm feelings, also walked there with Bryullov. Later she will play a huge role in the creation of her lover’s masterpiece, and more than one. Bryullov and Samoilova had the opportunity to see the buildings of the ancient city, restored household items, and the remains of dead people. All this left a deep and vivid imprint on the artist’s delicate nature. This was in 1827.
Disappearance of characters
Impressed, Bryullov almost immediately set to work, and very seriously and thoroughly. He visited the vicinity of Vesuvius more than once, making sketches for the future canvas. In addition, the artist familiarized himself with manuscripts that have survived to this day, including letters from an eyewitness to the disaster, the ancient Roman politician and writer Pliny the Younger, whose uncle Pliny the Elder died in the eruption. Of course, such work required a lot of time. Therefore, preparation for writing the masterpiece took Bryullov more than 5 years. He created the canvas itself, with an area of more than 30 square meters, in less than a year. The artist was sometimes unable to walk from exhaustion; he was literally carried out of the studio. But even with such careful preparation and hard work on the masterpiece, Bryullov kept changing the original plan to one degree or another. For example, he did not use a sketch of a thief taking jewelry from a fallen woman.
Same faces
One of the main mysteries that can be found in the canvas is the presence of several identical female faces in the picture. This is a girl with a jug on her head, a woman lying on the ground with a child, as well as a mother hugging her daughters, and a person with her husband and children. Why did Bryullov draw them so similar? The fact is that the same lady served as the model for all these characters - the same Countess Samoilova. Despite the fact that the artist drew other people in the picture from ordinary residents of Italy, apparently Samoilov Bryullov, overcome by certain feelings, simply liked to paint.
In addition, in the crowd depicted on the canvas, you can find the painter himself. He portrayed himself as what he was, an artist with a box filled with drawing supplies on his head. This method, as a kind of autograph, was used by many Italian masters. And Bryullov spent many years in Italy and it was there that he studied the art of painting.
Christian and pagan
Among the characters in the masterpiece there is also an adherent of the Christian faith, who is easily recognized by the cross on his chest. A mother and two daughters are huddling close to him, as if seeking protection from the old man. However, Bryullov also painted a pagan priest who quickly runs away, not paying any attention to the frightened townspeople. Undoubtedly, Christianity was persecuted at that time and it is not known for certain whether any of the adherents of this faith could have been in Pompeii at that time. But Bryullov, trying to adhere to the documentary accuracy of events, also introduced hidden meaning into his work. Through the above-mentioned clergy, he showed not only the cataclysm itself, but the disappearance of the old and the birth of the new.
The picture has long been familiar to us Karla Bryullova THE LAST DAY OF POMPEII, but we didn’t look at it in detail. I wanted to know its history and look at the painting in detail.
K. Bryullov. The last day of Pompeii. 1830—1833
BACKGROUND OF THE PICTURE.
In 1827, the young Russian artist Karl Bryullov arrived in Pompeii. He did not know that this trip would lead him to the pinnacle of creativity. The sight of Pompeii stunned him. He walked through 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 about the last day of Pompeii.
It will take six long years from the conception of the painting to its completion. Bryullov begins by studying historical sources. He reads letters from Pliny the Younger, a witness to the events, to the Roman historian Tacitus.
In search of authenticity, the artist also turns to materials from archaeological excavations; he will depict some figures in the poses in which the skeletons of the victims of Vesuvius were found in hardened lava.
Almost all the items were painted by Bryullov from original items stored in the Neapolitan museum. The surviving drawings, studies and sketches show how persistently the artist searched for the most expressive composition. And even when the sketch of the future canvas was ready, Bryullov rearranged the scene about a dozen times, changing gestures, movements, and poses.
In 1830, the artist began working on a large canvas. He painted at such a limit of spiritual tension that it happened that he was literally carried out of the workshop in their arms. Finally, by mid-1833 the canvas was ready.
Eruption of Vesuvius.
Let's take a short digression to get acquainted with the historical details of the event that we will see in the picture.
The eruption of Vesuvius began on the afternoon of August 24, 79 and lasted about a day, as evidenced by some surviving manuscripts of Pliny the Younger's Letters. It led to the destruction of three cities - Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae and several small villages and villas.
Vesuvius wakes up and rains down all sorts of products of volcanic activity on the surrounding space. Tremors, flakes of ash, stones falling from the sky - all this took the inhabitants of Pompeii by surprise.
People tried to take refuge in houses, but died from suffocation or under the rubble. Death overtook some in public places - in theaters, markets, forums, churches, others - on the streets of the city, others - already outside the city limits. However, the vast majority of residents still managed to leave the city.
During the excavations, it became clear that everything in the cities was preserved as it was before the eruption. Under many meters of ash, streets, fully furnished houses, and the remains of people and animals that did not have time to escape were found. The force of the eruption was such that the ash from it even reached Egypt and Syria.
Of the 20,000 inhabitants of Pompeii, about 2,000 people died in the buildings and on the streets. Most of the residents left the city before the disaster, but the remains of the victims are also found outside the city. Therefore, the exact number of deaths is impossible to estimate.
Among those killed by the eruption was Pliny the Elder, who, out of scientific interest and a desire to help people suffering from the eruption, tried to approach Vesuvius on a ship and found himself in one of the centers of the disaster - at Stabia.
Pliny the Younger describes what happened on the 25th at Miseno. In the morning, a black cloud of ash began to approach the city. Residents fled in horror from the city to the seashore (probably residents of the dead cities tried to do the same). The crowd running along the road soon found itself in complete darkness; screams and crying of children could be heard.
Those who fell were trampled by those following. I had to shake off the ashes all the time, otherwise the person would instantly fall asleep, and those who sat down to rest would no longer be able to get up. This went on for several hours, but in the afternoon the ash cloud began to dissipate.
Pliny returned to Miseno, although the earthquakes continued. By the evening the eruption began to decline, and on the 26th everything calmed down in the evening. Pliny the Younger was lucky, but his uncle, the outstanding scientist and author of natural history Pliny the Elder, died during the eruption in Pompeii.
They say that the curiosity of a natural scientist let him down, he stayed in the city for observations. The sun appeared over the dead cities of Pompeii, Stabia, Herculaneum and Octavianum only on August 27. Vesuvius has erupted at least eight more times to this day. Moreover, in 1631, 1794 and 1944, the eruption was quite strong.
DESCRIPTION.
Black darkness hung over the earth. A blood-red glow colors the sky at the horizon, and a blinding flash of lightning momentarily breaks the darkness. In the face of death, the essence of the human soul is revealed.
Here young Pliny persuades his mother, who has fallen to the ground, to gather what remains of her strength and try to escape.
Here the sons are carrying their old father on their shoulders, trying to quickly deliver the precious burden to a safe place.
Raising his hand towards the collapsing skies, the man is ready to protect his loved ones with his chest.
Nearby is a kneeling mother with her children. With what inexpressible tenderness they cling to each other!
Above them is a Christian shepherd with a cross around his neck, with a torch and censer in his hands. With calm fearlessness he looks at the flaming skies and the crumbling statues of former gods.
And in the depths of the canvas he is contrasted with a pagan priest, running in fear with an altar under his arm. This somewhat naive allegory proclaims the advantages of the Christian religion over the outgoing pagan one.
A man with his hand raised to the heavens is trying to protect his family. Next to him is a kneeling mother with children who are looking to her for protection and help.
On the left in the background is a crowd of fugitives on the steps of the tomb of Scaurus. In it we notice an artist saving the most precious thing - a box of brushes and paints. This is a self-portrait of Karl Bryullov.
But in his eyes it is not so much the horror of death as the artist’s close attention, heightened by the terrible spectacle. He carries on his head the most valuable thing - a box of paints and other painting supplies. It seems that he has slowed down and is trying to remember the picture unfolding before him. The model of the girl with the jug was Yu.P. Samoilova.
We can see her in other images. This and a woman who fell to her death, stretched out on the pavement, with a living child next to her - in the center of the canvas; and a mother attracting her daughters to her in the left corner of the picture.
The young man holds his beloved, in his eyes there is despair and hopelessness.
Many art historians consider the central characters in the canvas to be a frightened child lying next to his dead mother. Here we see grief, despair, hope, the death of the old world, and perhaps the birth of a new one. This is a confrontation between life and death.
A noble woman tried to escape on a fast chariot, but no one can escape Kara; everyone must be punished for their sins. On the other hand, we see a frightened child who against all odds he survived to revive the fallen race. But, of course, we don’t know what his future fate is, and we can only hope for a happy outcome.
The baby mourning her is an allegory of the new world, a symbol of the inexhaustible power of life.
There is so much pain, fear and despair in people’s eyes.
“The Last Day of Pompeii” convinces us that the main value in the world is man. Bryullov contrasts the spiritual greatness and beauty of man with the destructive forces of nature.
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.
The first time he sees this work, any viewer is delighted with its colossal scale: on a canvas with an area of more than thirty square meters, the artist tells the story of many lives united by a catastrophe. It seems that what is captured on the plane of the canvas is not a city, but an entire world experiencing destruction.
HISTORY OF THE PICTURE
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 source of patriotic pride. She was enthusiastically greeted by A.S. Pushkin:
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
In crowds, old and young, under the inflamed ashes,
Runs out of the city under the rain of stones.
Indeed, the world fame of Bryullov’s painting forever destroyed the disdainful attitude towards Russian artists that existed even in Russia itself. In the eyes of his contemporaries, the work of Karl Bryullov was proof of the originality of the national artistic genius.
Bryullov was compared to the great Italian masters. Poets dedicated poems to him. He was greeted with applause on the street and in the theater. A year later, the French Academy of Arts awarded the artist a gold medal for the painting after its participation in the Paris Salon.
In 1834, the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” was sent to St. Petersburg. Alexander Ivanovich Turgenev said that this picture brought glory to Russia and Italy. E. A. Baratynsky composed a famous aphorism on this occasion: “The last day of Pompeii became the first day for the Russian brush!”
Nicholas I honored the artist with a personal audience and awarded Charles a laurel wreath, after which the artist was called “Charlemagne.”
Anatoly Demidov presented the painting to Nicholas I, who exhibited it at the Academy of Arts as a guide for aspiring painters. After the opening of the Russian Museum in 1895, the painting moved there, and the general public gained access to it.
Canvas, oil.
Size: 465.5 × 651 cm
"The last day of Pompeii"
The Last Day of Pompeii is scary and beautiful. It shows how powerless man is in the face of furious nature. The talent of the artist, who managed to convey all the fragility of human life, is amazing. The picture silently screams that there is nothing in the world more important than human tragedy. The thirty-meter monumental canvas reveals to everyone those pages of history that no one wants to repeat.
... Of the 20 thousand inhabitants of Pompeii that day, 2,000 people died on the streets of the city. How many of them remained buried under the rubble of houses is unknown to this day.
Description of the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” by K. Bryullov
Artist: Karl Pavlovich Bryullov (Bryulov)
Title of the painting: “The Last Day of Pompeii”
The picture was painted: 1830-1833.
Canvas, oil.
Size: 465.5 × 651 cm
The Russian artist of the Pushkin era is known as a portrait painter and the last romantic of painting, and not in love with life and beauty, but rather as experiencing a tragic conflict. It is noteworthy that K. Bryullov’s small watercolors during his life in Naples were brought by aristocrats from trips as decorative and entertaining souvenirs.
The master’s work was strongly influenced by his life in Italy, his travels through the cities of Greece, as well as his friendship with A.S. Pushkin. The latter radically affected the Academy of Arts graduate’s vision of the world – the fate of all humanity comes first in his works.
This picture reflects this idea as clearly as possible. "The last day of Pompeii" based on real historical facts.
A city near modern Naples was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Manuscripts of ancient historians, in particular Pliny the Younger, also speak about this. He says that Pompeii was famous throughout Italy for its mild climate, healing air and divine nature. Patricians had villas here, emperors and generals came to rest, turning the city into an ancient version of Rublyovka. It is reliably known that there was a theater, water supply and Roman baths here.
August 24, 79 AD e. people heard a deafening roar and saw pillars of fire, ash and stones begin to burst out of the bowels of Vesuvius. The disaster was preceded by an earthquake the day before, so most of the people managed to leave the city. Those who remained were not saved from the ash that reached Egypt and volcanic lava. A terrible tragedy occurred in a matter of seconds - houses collapsed on the heads of the residents, and meter-high layers of volcanic sediment covered everyone without exception. Panic began in Pompeii, but there was nowhere to run.
This is exactly the moment that is depicted on the canvas of K. Bryullov, who saw in person the streets of the ancient city, even under a layer of petrified ash, remaining the same as they were before the eruption. The artist collected materials for a long time, visited Pompeii several times, examined houses, walked the streets, made sketches of imprints of the bodies of people who died under a layer of hot ash. Many figures are depicted in the painting in the same poses - a mother with children, a woman who fell from a chariot and a young couple.
The work took 3 years to write - from 1830 to 1833. The master was so imbued with the tragedy of human civilization that he was carried out of the workshop several times in a semi-fainting state.
Interestingly, the film contains themes of destruction and human sacrifice. The first moment you will see is the fire engulfing the city, falling statues, a maddened horse and a murdered woman who fell from her chariot. The contrast is achieved by the fleeing townspeople who don't care about her.
It is noteworthy that the master depicted not a crowd in the usual sense of the word, but people, each of whom tells his own story.
Mothers holding their children, who do not quite understand what is happening, want to shelter them from this catastrophe. The sons, carrying their father in their arms, looking madly into the sky and covering his eyes from the ashes with his hand, try to save him at the cost of their lives. The young man, holding his dead bride in his arms, seems to not believe that she is no longer alive. A maddened horse, which is trying to throw off its rider, seems to convey that nature has not spared anyone. A Christian shepherd in red robes, not letting go of the censer, fearlessly and terribly calmly looks at the falling statues of pagan gods, as if he sees God’s punishment in this. The image of a priest who, having taken a golden cup and artifacts from the temple, leaves the city, cowardly looking around, is striking. Most people's faces are beautiful and reflect not horror, but calm.
One of them in the background is a self-portrait of Bryullov himself. He clutches the most valuable thing to himself - a box of paints. Pay attention to his gaze, there is no fear of death in him, there is only admiration for the spectacle that has unfolded. It’s as if the master stopped and remembers the deadly beautiful moment.
What is noteworthy is that there is no main character on the canvas, there is only a world divided by the elements into two parts. The characters disperse on the proscenium, opening the doors to a volcanic hell, and a young woman in a golden dress lying on the ground is a symbol of the death of the refined culture of Pompeii.
Bryullov knew how to work with chiaroscuro, modeling three-dimensional and lively images. Clothes and draperies play an important role here. The robes are depicted in rich colors - red, orange, green, ocher, blue and indigo. Contrasting with them is deathly pale skin, which is illuminated by the glow of lightning.
Light continues the idea of dividing the picture. He is no longer a way to convey what is happening, but becomes a living hero in “The Last Day of Pompeii.” Lightning flashes in a yellow, even lemon, cold color, turning the townspeople into living marble statues, and blood-red lava flows over the peaceful paradise. The glow of the volcano sets off the panorama of the dying city in the background of the picture. Black clouds of dust, from which pours not saving rain, but destructive ash, as if they say that no one can be saved. The dominant color in the painting is red. Moreover, this is not the cheerful color that is designed to give life. Bryullov red is bloody, as if reflecting the biblical Armageddon. The clothes of the characters and the background of the picture seem to merge with the glow of the volcano. Flashes of lightning illuminate only the foreground.
After graduating from the art academy in 1827, the young promising artist Karl Bryullov went to Italy to study the classical art of the Roman Empire. Who would have thought that this trip would be important not only for the artist himself, but for the entire world of painting! Having visited the excavations of the once flourishing city of Pompeii, which was instantly destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, the artist is so imbued with its fate that he begins the creation of a masterpiece of world art, the grandiose painting “The Last Day of Pompeii”.
Work on the painting was difficult; for three years Bryullov worked tirelessly, sometimes driving himself to exhaustion. But everything ends sooner or later, and in 1833 the masterpiece was ready. The masterful execution of the combination in the picture of a huge impending danger and the different behavior of people at the same time earned a lot of positive feedback immediately after the completion of the work.
Pliny, pictured in the foreground, is trying to persuade his fallen mother to get up and run away from the impending danger. A man nearby raised his hand and is trying to somehow protect his family. The woman is on her knees, surrounded by children, trying to find protection and help from her. Not far from them stands a Christian priest. He is strong in his faith, therefore he is fearless and calm in the face of impending danger. He looks at the statues of pagan gods being destroyed by enormous force. And in the background you can see a pagan priest trying to save the sacred altar. With this, Bryullov wanted to show how the Christian faith is replacing paganism.
A crowd of people are running down the street, trying to escape. Among them, the artist depicted himself saving art objects. Also on the canvas, the artist depicted an allegory of the change of one time to another - a woman lies on the ground, next to a baby mourns her.
In the grandiose work “The Last Day of Pompeii” by Karl Bryullov, any caring viewer finds answers to many questions about the meaning of life and the purpose of man.
Year of painting: 1833.
Dimensions of the painting: no data.
Material: canvas.
Writing technique: oil.
Genre: historical painting.
Style: romanticism.
Gallery: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Other paintings by the artist:
Description of the painting by Karl Bryullov “Portrait of Countess Y.P. Samoilova leaving the ball with her adopted daughter Amatsilia Pacini”
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 painting by the Russian artist Karl Bryullov was dedicated to the last day of the ancient city.
“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 over the entire 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 hall of copies 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 traveling 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... A little Russian paints small pictures... A colossal work can be done by someone bigger!” 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, also took part in the excavations, and since 1824 he has been studying the ruins of the ancient city. 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 collecting 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 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 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.
Source: 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.
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.
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
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.
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!”
Sir Walter Scott
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 was expecting to see a 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 history knew not 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. This is why the public of the early 19th century could associate the eruption of Vesuvius with the biblical punishment visited 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 workshop 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 the refined culture of Ancient Rome, perishing 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. An amazing technique of the artist - the courageous figure of a Christian priest, who knows no doubts and fears, is contrasted with a pagan priest running away in fear in the depths of the canvas.
Priest
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, paintings by Ingres and Delacroix, adherents of the “notorious ancient beauty,” hung next to Bryullov’s painting. 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
