The first copy of the picture of the last day of Pompeii. The history of the creation of the painting: "The Last Day of Pompeii" by Karl Pavlovich Bryullov

The Russian artist Karl Bryullov was undoubtedly quite respected for his craftsmanship 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 still hide from the audience?

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 graves for several thousand local residents. Real archaeological excavations of areas that have 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 for one day, but for several decades. Thanks to this circumstance, the artist managed to personally visit the excavations and wander through the ancient Roman streets already freed from the solidified lava. Moreover, at that moment it was Pompeii that turned out to be the most cleared.

Together with Bryullov, Countess Yulia Samoilova, for whom Karl Pavlovich had warm feelings, also walked there. Later, she will play a huge role in creating a masterpiece of a lover, and even more than one. Bryullov and Samoilova had the opportunity to see the buildings of the ancient city, restored household items, the remains of dead people. All this left a deep and vivid imprint on the subtle nature of the artist. It was in 1827.

Disappearance of characters

Impressed, Bryullov almost immediately set to work, moreover, very seriously and thoroughly. He visited the vicinity of Vesuvius more than once, making sketches for the future canvas. In addition, the artist got acquainted with the manuscripts that have survived to this day, including letters from an eyewitness to the catastrophe, the ancient Roman politician and writer Pliny the Younger, whose uncle Pliny the Elder died during the eruption. Of course, such work required a lot of time. Therefore, the preparation for writing a masterpiece took Bryullov more than 5 years. The canvas itself, with an area of more than 30 square meters, he created in less than a year. From exhaustion, the artist sometimes could not walk, he was literally carried out of the workshop. But even with such careful preparation and hard work on the masterpiece, Bryullov continually changed the original idea in one way or another. For example, he did not use a sketch that showed a thief removing jewelry from a fallen woman.

Identical faces

One of the main mysteries that can be found on 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 kind for all these characters - the same Countess Samoilova. Despite the fact that the artist painted other people in the picture from ordinary residents of Italy, apparently, Samoilov Bryullov, overcome by certain feelings, simply liked to write.

In addition, in the crowd depicted on the canvas, you can find the painter himself. He portrayed himself as he was, an artist with a box filled with art 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 of the masterpiece there is also an adherent of the Christian faith, who is easily recognizable by the cross on his chest. A mother with two daughters huddles up to him, as if seeking protection from the old man. However, he painted Bryullov and a pagan priest, who quickly runs away, not paying any attention to the frightened townspeople. Undoubtedly, Christianity at that time was persecuted and it is not known for certain whether any of the adherents of this faith could then be in Pompeii. But Bryullov, trying to adhere to the documentary authenticity of events, introduced a hidden meaning into his work. By means of the aforementioned priests, he showed not only the cataclysm itself, but the disappearance of the old and the birth of the new.

The famous painting by Karl Bryullov "The Last Day of Pompeii" was painted in 1830-1833. On this epic canvas, the painter captured the death of the city of Pompeii due to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

In search of authenticity, Bryullov visited the excavations of the deceased city. The figures and faces of people were created by the painter from nature, from the inhabitants of Rome. Almost all the items depicted in the picture, the artist wrote from genuine things stored in the Neapolitan Museum.

Bryullov depicts a truly infernal picture. In the distance, a volcano is burning, from the depths of which streams of fiery lava are spreading in all directions. Flame reflections from burning lava illuminate with a reddish glow back canvases. A flash of lightning, cutting through a cloud of ash and burning, illuminates the front of the picture.

In his painting, Bryullov uses a bold for his time color scheme. The painter pays close attention to the aerial perspective - he manages to create a feeling of deep space.

Before us is a whole sea of human suffering. In the hour of real tragedy, human souls are exposed. Here is a man protecting his loved ones, desperately raising his hand, as if trying to stop the elements. The mother, passionately embracing her children, looks at the sky with a plea for mercy. Here are the sons on their shoulders trying to carry the weak old father away from danger. A young boy persuades his fallen mother to gather strength and run away. In the center of the picture is a dead woman and a baby reaching for the lifeless body of her mother.

The painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” reminds the viewer that the main value of the world is a person. The artist contrasts his physical beauty and spiritual greatness with the destructive forces of nature. The picture caused an explosion of admiration and admiration, both in Italy and in Russia. The work was enthusiastically welcomed by A.S. Pushkin and N.V. Gogol.

In addition to the description of the painting by K. P. Bryullov “The Last Day of Pompeii”, our website has collected many other descriptions of paintings by various artists, which can be used both in preparation for writing an essay on a painting, and simply for a more complete acquaintance with the work of famous masters of the past .

Weaving from beads

Bead weaving is not only a way to take free time child productive activity, but also the opportunity to make their own hands interesting decorations and souvenirs.

Plot

On the canvas - one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in the history of mankind. In 79, Vesuvius, who had been silent for so long before that it had long been considered extinct, suddenly “woke up” and forced all living things in the area to fall asleep forever.

"The last day of Pompeii". (wikimedia.org)

It is known that Bryullov read the memoirs of Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the events in Mizena, which survived during the disaster: scenes. The chariots, which we dared to take out, shook so violently back and forth, although they stood on the ground, that we could not hold them, even by placing large stones under the wheels. The sea seemed to roll back and be pulled away from the shores by the convulsive movements of the Earth; certainly the land expanded considerably, and some sea animals were on the sand ... Finally, the terrible darkness began to dissipate little by little, like a cloud of smoke; daylight reappeared, and even the sun came out, although its light was gloomy, as it happens before an approaching eclipse. Every object that appeared before our eyes (which were extremely weakened) seemed to have changed, covered with a thick layer of ash, as if with snow.

Pompeii today. (wikimedia.org)

A crushing blow to the cities occurred 18-20 hours after the start of the eruption - people had enough time to escape. However, not everyone was prudent. And although it was not possible to establish the exact number of deaths, the number goes into the thousands. Among them are mostly slaves, whom the owners left to guard the property, as well as the elderly and the sick, who did not have time to leave. There were also those who hoped to wait out the elements at home. In fact, they are still there.

On the canvas, people are in a panic, the elements will not spare either the rich or the poor. And what is remarkable is that Bryullov used one model to write people of different classes. We are talking about Yulia Samoilova, her face is found on the canvas four times: a woman with a jug on her head on the left side of the canvas; a dead woman in the center; a mother attracting her daughters to her, in the left corner of the picture; a woman covering her children and saving with her husband. The artist was looking for faces for the rest of the heroes on the Roman streets.

It is surprising in this picture and how the issue of light is resolved. “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 remedy. Genius inspired him with a bold idea, as happy as it was inimitable: to illuminate the entire front of the picture with a quick, minute and whitish brilliance of lightning, cutting through the thick cloud of ash that enveloped the city, while the light from the eruption, with difficulty breaking through the deep darkness, throws reddish penumbra into the background, ”the newspapers wrote then.

Context

By the time Bryullov decided to write the death of the Pompeii, he was considered talented, but still promising. For approval in the status of a master, serious work was needed.

At that time in Italy, the theme of Pompeii was popular. Firstly, excavations were carried out very actively, and secondly, there were a couple more eruptions of Vesuvius. This could not but be reflected in culture: on the stages of many Italian theaters, Paccini's opera L "Ultimo giorno di Pompeia" was successfully staged. There is no doubt that the artist saw her, and maybe more than once.

Bryullov's self-portrait. (wikimedia.org)

The idea to write the death of the city came in Pompeii itself, which Bryullov visited in 1827 at the initiative of his brother, the architect Alexander. It took 6 years to collect the material. The artist was scrupulous in details. So, things that fell out of the box, jewelry and other various items in the picture were copied from those found by archaeologists during excavations.

Let's say a few words about Yulia Samoilova, whose face, as mentioned above, is found four times on the canvas. For the picture, Bryullov was looking for Italian types. And although Samoilova was Russian, her appearance corresponded to Bryullov's ideas about how Italian women should look.

Portrait of Yu. P. Samoilova. (wikimedia.org)

They met in Italy in 1827. Bryullov adopted the experience of senior masters there and looked for inspiration, while Samoilova burned through her life. In Russia, she had already managed to get a divorce, she had no children, and for an overly stormy bohemian life, Nicholas I asked her to move away from the court.

When the work on the painting was completed and the Italian public saw the canvas, a boom began on Bryullov. It was a success! Everyone at a meeting with the artist considered it an honor to say hello; when he appeared in theaters, everyone stood up, and at the door of the house where he lived, or the restaurant where he dined, many people always gathered to greet him. Since the Renaissance, not a single artist in Italy has been the object of such worship as Karl Bryullov.

In the homeland of the painter, a triumph also awaited. The general euphoria about the picture becomes clear after reading the lines of Baratynsky:

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.

half conscious creative life Karl Bryullov spent in Europe. For the first time he went abroad after graduating from the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg to improve his skills. And where, if not in Italy, to do this?! At first, Bryullov mainly painted Italian aristocrats, as well as watercolors with scenes from life. The latter have become a very popular souvenir from Italy. These were small-sized pictures with small-figured compositions, without psychological portraits. Such watercolors mainly glorified Italy with its beautiful nature and represented the Italians as a people who genetically preserved the ancient beauty of their ancestors.

Interrupted Date, 1827. (wikimedia.org)

Bryullov wrote simultaneously with Delacroix and Ingres. It was a time when the theme of the fate of huge human masses came to the fore in painting. Therefore, it is not surprising that Bryullov chose the story of the death of Pompeii for his program canvas.

The picture made such a strong impression on Nicholas I that he demanded that Bryullov return to his homeland and take the place of professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts. Returning to Russia, Bryullov met and became friends with Pushkin, Glinka, Krylov.

Bryullov's frescoes in St. Isaac's Cathedral. (wikimedia.org)

The last years the artist spent in Italy, trying to save his health, undermined during the painting of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Hours of long hard work in a damp unfinished cathedral had a bad effect on the heart and aggravated rheumatism.

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 painting 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 about 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 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 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.

August 24, at about 2 pm, a giant cloud began to rise rapidly over Vesuvius white color with brown spots. 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 stairwells and in the galleries, spending the last half hour of his life there in mortal 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, yapped at 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 last effort the man apparently made another attempt to get up, 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 necessary materials before you start painting. An important source of information for him was 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, inspected 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 the 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 a 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.

Undoubtedly, he was respected enough for his craftsmanship 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 still hide from the audience?

Why Pompeii?

Disappearance of characters

Identical faces

Christian and pagan

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