All the achievements and successes of Karl Bryullov in the field of portraiture were recognized as undeniable and the best. These works were recognized even by the harshest critics, such as Vladimir Stasov And Alexander Benois . Karl's contemporaries considered it a great happiness and joy to have a portrait of Karl Bryullov or one of his works. Throughout his life, the master created a large number of paintings and watercolor portraits. He started his creative career still in St. Petersburg, before leaving for Italy.

In Italy, Bryullov masters many types of different portrait genre. This included from ceremonial equestrian to small-format watercolor portrait. For example, portraits G.N. And V.A. Olenins, which were painted by the master in 1827 and a portrait K.A. And M.Ya. Naryshkins, which was also written in 1827. Karl Bryullov managed to perfectly master the technique of watercolor, bringing his skill to perfection. Jewelry delicacy and precision give his works the quality of a precious heirloom, which only fuels the interest and pride of the owners.

One of the master’s masterpieces is, later it was believed that it was M.G. Razumovskaya. The painting was painted in 1830. The girl's face is depicted in the most subtle way, using miniature technique. The red, white and gold turban was painted quite widely and freely. The hand pattern is transparently covered in almost the same tone. The author paid tribute to romantic orientalism, which created the fashion for oriental shawls, turbans, etc. Thus, a certain elegant naturalness of the pose was created, transforming this exoticism into a phenomenon of high style. There is also a romantic taste that appreciates the beauty of incompleteness. The shoulders, clothing and drapery of the shawl are characteristically shown; they can barely be read in the weightless pencil contours. Ceremonial portrait is most susceptible to the traditionalism of etiquette norms of secular “vestity”, which ensure the festive solemnity of the model’s self-demonstration to the viewer.

Karl Bryullov always managed to come up with a real, genre motivation for the condition of his model, for example: a horsewoman returns from a walk, the Shishmarev sisters go on a horse ride, Samoilova leaves the ball, Saltykova sits down to rest, as if before going into the living room, where she will take on the role of a kind hostess , or, for example, Madame Beck brings her baby into the living room to show. Dealing mostly with portraits of private individuals, Bryullov had to find such formulas and rules of ceremonial representation in reality itself, but it was also necessary to give them everyday persuasiveness.

All this can be seen in the picture "Rider", which was written in 1832 year. This picture was specially written for Countess Yulia Samoilova, who was at permanent residence in Italy, in Milan, she had a rather luxurious villa. The painting depicts pupils Giovannina and Amacilija Pacini. Bryullov's passion for Samoilova, who was particularly eccentric, rich, leading an independent and free lifestyle, was reflected in several works of Karl Bryullov.

This work by Karl Bryullov is considered one of his best works, which were made in ceremonial style. In the portrait you can see Yu.P. Samoilov with Giovanni Pacini and a blackamoor, the painting was painted in 1832-1834. The heroine of the picture almost runs into the room, smiles happily and cheerfully at the viewer, with a careless movement throws the shawl into the hands of the blackamoor, at the same time hugging Giovannina, who is looking at her with admiration and admiration.

Karl Bryullov wrote precisely about this work of his in a letter to Alexander Turgenev in 1832. “Mrs. Samoilova flew here from Naples, I found her in one of the shops.”. Bryullov depicted her in the position of a running beauty with a blackamoor and her pupil. He wrote about this in a letter to his friend. He painted a new portrait of Yu.P. in St. Petersburg. Samoilova leaving the ball, which was published in 1839. The portrait was taken when Samoilova came to Russia in order to take possession of the inheritance that Count Julius Lita left her. This painting was an excellent completion of Karl’s series of works, which were dedicated to the famous beauty.

Apparently an awakening creative imagination Bryullov was stimulated by that side of life where there is festive and bright life. He found himself in a world where excitement reigns and where there is a lot of luxury and bliss. But this is also a world of immediate feelings and free movements of the soul, in which a feeling of the fullness and beauty of life is manifested, so to speak, synonymous with the world of his Italian paintings. The fact that he was not at all attracted to official significance and solemnity, apparently, lies the reason why Bryullov not only did not become a court portrait painter, but tried by all possible, and sometimes risky, means to avoid such roles. The courage with which he avoided the need to paint the emperor himself was remembered by many contemporaries.

Bryullov took advantage of Nikolai’s lateness to his workshop: “... took his hat and left the courtyard, ordering him to tell the sovereign if he arrived: Karl Pavlovich was expecting your majesty, but, knowing that you are never late, he concluded that something had delayed you, and that you postponed the session until another time". Twenty minutes after the appointed time, the sovereign came to Bryullov’s workshop, accompanied by Grigorovich, was amazed that he did not find Bryullov at home, and, after listening to... an explanation of the matter, said to Grigorovich: “What an impatient man!” After this, of course, there was never any more talk about the portrait. He almost demonstratively abandoned work on the portrait of Alexandra Feodorovna on a horseback ride after the empress canceled several sessions. Purely artistic instinct seemed to force Bryullov to distance himself from the court environment.

Among the master’s works there is a portrait of his friend, the famous fabulist I. Krylov. The portrait was painted in 1839. On it, Ivan Krylov is 70 years old. The portrait was painted quickly - in one session.

In the very nature of Karl Bryullov’s pomp lies something completely contradictory. His balancing on the brink of a genre scene creates the danger of losing truly portrait tasks. Portrait of M.L. Beck with his daughter, which was written in 1840 year, demonstrates this fact with great clarity.

If in the 18th century the conventionally selected surroundings occupied a subordinate position in relation to the person being portrayed, it played the role of commentary and the function of decorative accompaniment, then in the named portrait the luxurious furnishings of the living room, painted with Bryullov’s usual colorful brightness, convincingness in the rendering of precious velvets, bronze, marble, becomes an equal object of viewer attention and interest. The heroine of the portrait appears before us as a touching and caring mother.

Ceremonial portraits.

The main difference between formal portraits and all intimate ones is manifested in a certain contemplative self-absorption. Without fearing anachronism, we can say that these are “long exposure” portraits. Demonstration is a kind of invisible hobby of Karl Bryullov.

It doesn’t disappear in these paintings either; it is present here too. But it is here that she manages to acquire a certain new quality. Communication with the viewer is almost always assumed, only this is a different atmosphere, a different society and other forms of communication compared to the portraits of the 18th century. Something from his circle, and not the standard smiling courtesy prescribed by the norms of secular etiquette.

Performing scenic portrait of I.P. Vitali was preceded by a drawing made in Moscow, which depicted the sculptor in a robe, with protruding cowlicks. It was shown in a homely atmosphere. The same appearance of a good-natured fat man is combined in a picturesque portrait with touching expression concentrated attentiveness, which should present us with an artist who is biasedly peering at his own creation. On the face of the main character of the portrait you can notice some deliberateness. It seems that Karl forced the man to play a role that was not his. Although there is nothing more natural than using the rather traditional “artist in the studio” motif when depicting a fellow artist.

Vitali peers at the bust of Bryullov he made, which appeared before him on a stand. Such a plot here is not without wit, hinting at creative union sculpture and painting. The fact that Bryullov composed a kind of program for a pictorial portrait, indicating that Vitali belonged to the guild of artists, is very typical of Bryullov’s portrait method, which always sought, as Gogol put it, to show a person “in the supreme grace of his nature,” that is, elevated above everyday prose .

Portrait of N.V. Puppeteer, which was written in 1836, is a kind of exemplary example of Bryullov’s portrait method. It is known that romantic artists most turned to portraiture when the model was from a close circle: artist friends or writers, when freedom of expression could be obtained, since in this case the traditional norms of relationships with customers lost their compulsory obligation.

Representatives of “typical” romantics can also include Alexandra Strugovshchikova in the portrait, which was painted in 1840. The portrait depicts one of the representatives of the literary workshop, a poet and translator German literature. The person depicted in the portraits translated Goethe, including Faust. Belinsky, in one of his letters in 1838, wrote about Strugovshchikov: “He has talent, he translates Goethe well.” Strugovshchikov made a special sketch of Pushkin on his deathbed in the poet’s apartment. He belonged to a generation of young people who lived in the post-Decembrist era; he was completely a “man of the forties” - the era of “thought and reason.” This was a generation that understood everything perfectly.

The porter was written as a kind of justification for Glinka’s friendship with Kukolnikov. And also, perhaps, for their participation in the “puppet fraternity.” “...The critics were right in that the entire puppeteer company did not introduce a single new strong thought into our literature, did not develop a single healthy social principle, just as the living rooms of our patrons, with their Zhukovskys and Vyazemskys, did not do this. But literary influence the latter in the periods of 1820 and 1830 was due to a different environment. The pogrom of December 14 took away the hunt for a long time advanced people society to interfere in domestic policy our lives, and the very paths to that were blocked.”

Strugovshchikov’s portrait simply brings to us the lines of Pushkin: “They beat Zorya... the Old Dante falls from my hands, The verse begun on my lips, unread, has died down - The spirit flies far away.”

Self-portrait, which was written in 1848 year, is one of the best self-portraits of the master. “Small, plump, with a good-natured laughing face, Bryullov looked more like a carefree landowner than a great artist, but when he spoke about art, it was now noticeable that a sacred fire was burning in him” - this is exactly how the homeland of the great artist and painter saw it. It is worth noting the enviable fearlessness in the use of the expression “sacred fire,” which seems to modern ears to be lofty. Perhaps, in the context of the skills of rhetorical culture that had not yet been lost at that time, it also made it possible to clearly distinguish, without mixing, the levels of competence of low and high syllables.

Of course, it is necessary for viewers to be able to recognize references various kinds, and they also need skill and knowledge of artistic precedents. In this regard, it is appropriate to recall that the art of the first half of the 19th century century had such a viewer in mind and was addressed specifically to him.

Bryullov painted several group portraits. Despite all the individual differences, Bryullov’s creative aspiration for the genreization of a group portrait was ideologically close to the art of A. Venetsianov, who at that time created a portrait of his family at breakfast.

Karl Bryullov lived in Italy for more than four years before he reached Pompeii in 1827. At that time he was looking for a plot for big picture on historical topic. What he saw amazed the artist. It took him six years to collect material and paint an epic canvas with an area of ​​almost 30 m2. In the picture, people of different genders and ages, occupations and faiths, caught in the disaster, are rushing about. However, in the motley crowd you can notice four identical faces...

In the same year, 1827, Bryullov met the woman of his life - Countess Yulia Samoilova. Having separated from her husband, the young aristocrat, a former maid of honor, who loved a bohemian lifestyle, moved to Italy, where morals are freer. Both the Countess and the artist had a reputation as heartthrobs. Their relationship remained free, but long, and their friendship continued until Bryullov’s death. “Nothing was done according to the rules between me and Karl,” Samoilova later wrote to his brother Alexander.

(Total 19 images)

Karl Bryullov, “Portrait of Countess Yulia Pavlovna Samoilova leaving the ball with her adopted daughter Amazilia Pacini,” 1839-1840, fragment.

Julia with her Mediterranean appearance (there were rumors that the woman’s father was the Italian Count Litta, her mother’s stepfather) was an ideal for Bryullov, and, moreover, as if created for an ancient plot. The artist painted several portraits of the countess and “gave” her face to the four heroines of the painting, which became his most famous creation. In “The Last Day of Pompeii” Bryullov wanted to show the beauty of a person even in a desperate situation, and Yulia Samoilova was for him a perfect example of this beauty in the real world.

Researcher Erich Hollerbach noted that similar friend on the heroine's friend " Last day Pompeii, despite social differences, look like representatives of one big family, as if the disaster has brought all the citizens closer together and equalized.

“I took this scenery from life, without retreating or adding at all, standing with my back to the city gates in order to see part of Vesuvius as main reason"- Bryullov explained in a letter to his brother the choice of location. This is already a suburb, the so-called Road of the Tombs, leading from the Herculaneum Gate of Pompeii to Naples. Here were the tombs of noble citizens and temples. The artist sketched the location of the buildings during excavations.

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.

Pagan 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.

Items of pagan cult. The tripod was intended for burning incense to the gods, ritual knives and axes were intended for slaughtering sacrificial cattle, and the vessel was for washing hands before performing the ritual.

The clothing of a citizen of the Roman Empire consisted of an undershirt, tunic and toga, a large almond-shaped piece of woolen cloth draped around the body. The toga was a sign of Roman citizenship; exiled Romans lost the right to wear it. The priests wore a white toga with a purple stripe along the edge - toga praetexta.

Judging by the number of frescoes on the walls of Pompeii, the profession of painter was in demand in the city. Bryullov portrayed himself as an ancient painter running next to a girl with the appearance of Countess Yulia - this is what the Renaissance masters, whose work he studied in Italy, often did.

According to art critic Galina Leontyeva, the Pompeian woman lying on the pavement who fell from her chariot symbolizes death ancient world, for which the artists of classicism yearned.

The things that fell out of the box, like other objects and decorations in the picture, were copied by Bryullov from bronze and silver mirrors, keys, lamps that were filled with olive oil, vases, bracelets and necklaces that belonged to the inhabitants of Pompeii in the 1st century AD.

According to the artist's idea, these are two brothers saving a sick old father.

Pliny the Younger with his mother. An ancient Roman prose writer who witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius described it in detail in two letters to the historian Tacitus. Bryullov placed the scene with Pliny on canvas “as an example of a child’s and mother's love", despite the fact that disaster overtook the writer and his family in another city - Misenach (about 25 km from Vesuvius and about 30 km from Pompeii). Pliny recalled how he and his mother got out of Misenum at the height of the earthquake, and a cloud of volcanic ash was approaching the city. It was difficult for the elderly woman to escape, and she, not wanting to cause the death of her 18-year-old son, tried to persuade him to leave her. “I replied that I would be saved only with her; I take her by the arm and force her to quicken her pace,” said Pliny. Both survived.

Goldfinch. During a volcanic eruption, birds died in flight.

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.

Building from the Road of the Tombs, resting place of Aulus Umbricius Scaurus the Younger. The tombs of the ancient Romans were usually built outside the city limits on both sides of the road. During his lifetime, Scaurus the Younger held the position of duumvir, that is, he stood at the head of the city administration, and for his services he was even awarded a monument in the forum. This citizen was the son of a wealthy merchant of garum fish sauce (Pompeii was famous for it throughout the empire).

Seismologists, based on the nature of the destruction of the buildings depicted in the picture, determined the intensity of the earthquake “according to Bryullov” - eight points.

The eruption, which occurred on August 24–25, 79 AD, destroyed several cities of the Roman Empire located at the foot of the volcano. Of the 20–30 thousand inhabitants of Pompeii, about two thousand were not saved, judging by the remains found.

Self-portrait of Karl Bryullov, 1848.

1799 - Born in St. Petersburg into the family of academician of ornamental sculpture Pavel Brullo.
1809–1821 - Studied at the Academy of Arts.
1822 - With funds from the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, he left for Germany and Italy.
1823 - Created "Italian Morning".
1827 - Painted the paintings “Italian Afternoon” and “Girl Picking Grapes in the Vicinity of Naples.”
1828–1833 - Worked on the canvas “The Last Day of Pompeii.”
1832 - Wrote “The Horsewoman”, “Bathsheba”.
1832–1834 - Worked on “Portrait of Yulia Pavlovna Samoilova with Giovanina Pacini and the Little Arab.”
1835 - Returned to Russia.
1836 - Became a professor at the Academy of Arts.
1839 - Married the daughter of the Riga burgomaster Emilia Timm, but divorced two months later.
1840 - Created “Portrait of Countess Yulia Pavlovna Samoilova leaving the ball...”.
1849–1850 - Went abroad for treatment.
1852 - Died in the village of Manziana near Rome, buried in the Roman cemetery of Testaccio.

Material prepared by Natalya Ovchinnikova for the magazine "Around the world". Published with permission of the journal.

Description of Bryullov’s painting “Self-Portrait”

What would I say about myself if I had this opportunity? What if I had guessed that my descendants, and those who like me, and even those who might not like me, could read this? The truth, or what I would like to see as the truth? A self-portrait is very similar to an autobiography.
Both there and there the viewer looks and evaluates.
For someone, I would try to be better than I really am, which means the truth would suffer.
But my pride and vanity would receive consolation.

In front of me is a picture of Bryullov, where he is depicted already at a decent age, when a person has personal goals, some of them have already come true, there are aspirations and passions, because an artist cannot write without emotions.
What is he saying about himself here? How could I see him?

The main attention of everyone who looks at the artist’s self-portrait is drawn to the face and hand of the already middle-aged Karl Pavlovich Bryullov.
His eyes, conveyed with incredible clarity, speak both of the suffering that the creator saw and of something elusively airy, something like a dance of thoughts that hover around.
I can’t even believe that in the eyes of the one who gave the world so much beauty, there will be such unimaginable sadness.
The eyes are filled with silence, calmness and intelligence.
They, passing through the years, penetrate into every soul that looks at them.
They ask questions that everyone can answer if they look within themselves.

Hand! For an artist, it is like a tool that he uses skillfully.
After all, sometimes everyone can see something beautiful that they want to hold in their memory.
But will it be possible to convey all the colors and shapes on the canvas?
This is probably why people invented cameras, because not everyone can even retell what they saw.
A. Bryullov could draw, noting the details, clearly conveying the qualities of the image he was looking at.
It was the hands of the great artist that were so strong and strong, despite the external frailty, that they obeyed their master.
They could make the world more beautiful with one move.
Both poets with their words and artists with their paintings enrich souls and hearts!

Karl Bryullov lived in Italy for more than four years before he reached Pompeii in 1827. At that time he was looking for a subject for a large painting on a historical theme. What he saw amazed the artist. It took him six years to collect material and paint an epic canvas with an area of ​​almost 30 m2.

In the picture, people of different genders and ages, occupations and faiths, caught in the disaster, are rushing about. However, in the motley crowd you can notice four identical faces...

In the same 1827, Bryullov met the woman of his life - Countess Yulia Samoilova. Having separated from her husband, the young aristocrat, a former maid of honor, who loved a bohemian lifestyle, moved to Italy, where morals are freer. Both the Countess and the artist had a reputation as heartthrobs. Their relationship remained free, but long, and their friendship continued until Bryullov’s death. “Nothing was done according to the rules between me and Karl.”, Samoilova later wrote to his brother Alexander.

Julia with her Mediterranean appearance (there were rumors that the woman’s father was the Italian Count Litta, her mother’s stepfather) was an ideal for Bryullov, moreover, as if created for an ancient plot. The artist painted several portraits of the countess and “gave” her face to the four heroines of the painting, which became his most famous creation. In “The Last Day of Pompeii” Bryullov wanted to show the beauty of a person even in a desperate situation, and Yulia Samoilova was for him a perfect example of this beauty in the real world.

1 Yulia Samoilova. Researcher Erich Hollerbach noted that the similar heroines of “The Last Day of Pompeii,” despite social differences, look like representatives of one big family, as if the disaster had brought all the townspeople closer and equalized.

2 Street. “I took this scenery 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 explained in a letter to his brother the choice of location. This is already a suburb, the so-called Road of the Tombs, leading from the Herculaneum Gate of Pompeii to Naples. Here were the tombs of noble citizens and temples. The artist sketched the location of the buildings during excavations.

3 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.

4 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.

5 Pagan 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.

8 Artist. Judging by the number of frescoes on the walls of Pompeii, the profession of painter was in demand in the city. Bryullov portrayed himself as an ancient painter running next to a girl with the appearance of Countess Yulia - this is what the Renaissance masters, whose work he studied in Italy, often did.

9 The woman who fell from her chariot. According to art critic Galina Leontyeva, the Pompeian woman lying on the pavement symbolizes the death of the ancient world, for which the artists of classicism yearned.

10 Things, which fell out of the box, like other objects and decorations in the picture, were copied by Bryullov from bronze and silver mirrors, keys, lamps filled with olive oil, vases, bracelets and necklaces found by archaeologists that belonged to the inhabitants of Pompeii in the 1st century AD. e.

11 Warrior and boy. According to the artist's idea, these are two brothers saving a sick old father.

12 Pliny the Younger. An ancient Roman prose writer who witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius described it in detail in two letters to the historian Tacitus.

13 Mother of Pliny the Younger. Bryullov placed the scene with Pliny on the canvas “as an example of childish and maternal love,” despite the fact that disaster overtook the writer and his family in another city - Misenach (about 25 km from Vesuvius and about 30 km from Pompeii). Pliny recalled how he and his mother got out of Misenum at the height of the earthquake, and a cloud of volcanic ash was approaching the city. It was difficult for the elderly woman to escape, and she, not wanting to cause the death of her 18-year-old son, tried to persuade him to leave her. “I replied that I would be saved only with her; I take her by the arm and make her quicken her pace.”, said Pliny. Both survived.

14 Goldfinch. During a volcanic eruption, birds died in flight.

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

16 Tomb of Scaurus. Building from the Road of the Tombs, resting place of Aulus Umbricius Scaurus the Younger. The tombs of the ancient Romans were usually built outside the city limits on both sides of the road. During his lifetime, Scaurus the Younger held the position of duumvir, that is, he stood at the head of the city administration, and for his services he was even awarded a monument in the forum. This citizen was the son of a wealthy merchant of garum fish sauce (Pompeii was famous for it throughout the empire).

17 Building destruction. Seismologists, based on the nature of the destruction of the buildings depicted in the picture, determined the intensity of the earthquake “according to Bryullov” - eight points.

18 Vesuvius. The eruption occurred on August 24-25, 79 AD. e., destroyed several cities of the Roman Empire located at the foot of the volcano. Of the 20-30 thousand inhabitants of Pompeii, about two thousand were not saved, judging by the remains found.

Born into the family of an artist, academician, and teacher at the Academy of Arts. Already in childhood, his father worked with him a lot, which could not but leave an imprint on his work. In his works, he usually followed the style that the Academy of Arts persistently introduced within its walls. However, as we will see, the trends also did not leave Bryullov indifferent. He brilliantly graduated from the Academy, received a Grand Gold Medal, and then improved his skills in Italy, where he quickly achieved European recognition. The subjects of many of his paintings are inspired by Italian motifs. Bryullov owns canvases on historical and mythological themes, and on everyday subjects. He also painted illustrations for literary works and a lot of portraits.

The painting recreates the death of the ancient city of Pompeii during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. This is a huge canvas 4.5 meters high and 6.5 meters long.

The most complex landscape background and multi-figure composition required intense physical and creative energy. The success of the painting is explained by the stormy drama of the scene, the brilliance and brightness of the colors, the compositional scope, sculptural clarity and expressiveness of the forms.

Vesuvius opened its mouth - smoke poured out, a cloud of flames

Widely developed like a battle flag,

The earth is agitated - from the swaying 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.

The main thing is that the painter convincingly showed: none, the most merciless and irresistible forces is not able to destroy the person in man. Peering at the picture, you notice that even at the moment of death, each of those depicted is not so much looking for salvation for himself, as he is striving first of all to save people close and dear to him. Thus, the man in the very center of the picture, stretching out the open palm of his left hand to the menacing sky, protects not himself from falling stones, but his wife, whom he covered with his cloak. The woman, bending over and leaning her whole body forward, tries to cover the children with her body.

Here are adult children trying to take their old father out from under the fire. Here the mother convinces her son to leave her and save himself. And here is the groom with the dead bride in his arms.

Of course, not all people are equally faithful and decent. The picture contains both bestial fear, forcing the rider on a horse to quickly save himself, and the insatiable greed with which the priest appropriates church treasures, taking advantage of the general panic. But there are not many of them.

Yet nobility and love prevail in the picture.

Bryullov's work bears a clear imprint of the influence of romanticism. This is evident both in the choice of theme and in the fiery coloring of the painting. But on the other hand, one can also see here the influence of classicism, to which Bryullov was always faithful - the figures of people are very reminiscent of perfect antique sculptures. Few works of art have known the triumph experienced by Bryullov’s creation.

Famous English writer Walter Scott spent two hours near the painting and assessed the creation of the Russian master as a historical epic. When the author stepped on native land, he was warmly celebrated already in Odessa (he arrived by sea), and especially enthusiastically in Moscow. It was in the “mother throne” that the artist was greeted with the poetic stanzas of E.A. Baratynsky:

You brought peace trophies

With you to your father's canopy,

And became “The Last Day of Pompeii”

First day for the Russian brush!

Perhaps the most famous portrait Bryullov's brushes. Before us are the pupils of Countess Samoilova - Giovanna and Amazilia Pacini. This is a ceremonial portrait-picture: the young beauty Giovanna in the form of an Amazon reined in her horse in front of the veranda of the house, dogs and a little girl ran out to meet her, she looks at her sister with admiration and adoration. The portrait seems to be filled with movements and sounds: dogs bark, it seems that the echo of the trampling of children’s feet in the echoing corridors of the palazzo can still be heard. The horse is hot, but the rider herself calmly sits on his broad back. With great skill, Bryullov paints the rider’s fluttering emerald gauze scarf against the backdrop of the dark greenery of the park - green on green. The holiday will be imbued with a joyful feeling of admiration for the festive richness and diversity of life.

The model for this painting was a Roman commoner - a plump, round-faced person whom he depicted picking grapes. Standing on the stairs, in her left hand she holds a basket of grapes, and right hand is about to pick a bunch of grapes, but admires the play of light in the berries filled with amber. The artist found her doing this.
The generous Italian sun shines through the green foliage, burns with gold in the fruits of the grapes, flashes with a bright flame on the purple cape thrown over left hand of a young woman, the blush of her cheeks, the curve of her scarlet lips, pierces her lush bust, which was exposed by a blouse sliding off her shoulder.
“Italian noon” is a mature, blooming woman, matching the ripe and juicy fruits nurtured by the Italian sun. A riot of light and colors, a typically Italian, southern cast of faces does not require showing the surroundings to emphasize the scene.

The picture is written on biblical story. Bathsheba is the wife of Uriah, a friend of King David. David killed Uriah and made Bathsheba his wife. She bore him a son, the future King Solomon, famous for his wisdom. The artist combined in the picture perfect beauty with life's truth. He writes beauty female body, but with all the sculptural forms that are reminiscent of classicism, this beauty is not cold, but alive, warm. The mythological plot in the spirit of romanticism is colored with the spice of oriental exoticism: the snow-white beauty of Bathsheba is set off by the dark-skinned body of a black woman.

Before us is a drama from the life of the Castilian king Alfonso IV of Portugal. The court lady of the wife of the king's son Don Pedro Inessa captivated the infant with her beauty, who, after the death of his wife, secretly married her, because... the father had another candidate for a wife for his son. The king's advisers found out his son's secret and revealed it to Alphonse.

Don Pedro refused to marry his father's suitor. Then, by decision of the Royal Council, it was decided to kill Inessa. After waiting for the moment when Don Pedro went hunting, the king and his advisers went to Inessa. When Inessa realized what awaited them, she threw herself at the king’s feet. The unfortunate woman sobbed, begging for her life. At first, the king took pity on the young woman, but his advisors persuaded her not to succumb to unnecessary pity and killed the mother of two children.

Don Pedro did not forgive his father for such treachery and after his death he found the direct killers and executed them. The artist managed to convey the feelings of a mother passionately pleading with her killers. The king and his minions are depicted in dark, gloomy colors; the figures of Inessa and the children stand out as a light spot. And again, in the depiction of a woman, Bryullov remains faithful to classicism, and in the choice of theme, in the depiction of passion, he leans towards romanticism.

Ceremonial portrait of daughters famous amateur theater and artist Shishmarev. The portrait is painted in the form genre painting, The sisters are depicted descending the marble staircase into the garden. A dog rushes swiftly at their feet. Below, an Ethiopian servant holds the Arabian horses. The movements of the “Amazons” are smooth and beautiful. Their costumes are exquisite. The color of blue, crimson, and black clothes is deep and rich.

This painting is the peak of Bryullov’s work as a portrait painter. This is a triumphant manifestation of the beauty and spiritual strength of an independent, bright, free personality. Bryullov and Yulia Samoilova loved each other. They met in Rome, and their love was facilitated by the generous Italian nature. The artist depicted her together with her pupil leaving the living room of the house: impetuous, impetuous, dazzlingly beautiful, captivating with her fragrant youth and passion of nature. The artist Kiprensky said that you can so successfully create a portrait of a woman whom you not only endlessly admire, but whom you love passionately and madly...

The second title of the painting is “Masquerade”. This is the main idea of ​​the artist.
There, in the back of the hall, is a masquerade. But in the world of lies, Samoilova, full of human dignity, disdainfully threw off her mask and proudly shows her open face. She is sincere. She does not hide her love for the artist, who was condemned at this ball, and her attitude towards society, which she and her niece are defiantly leaving.
And there, in the back of the hall, the crowd in masks continues to have fun, there are representatives of high society who are accustomed to saying one thing, doing another, and thinking something else. There is a completely false society there, with which Bryullov so often did not coincide with his views. Samoilova played a huge role in the artist’s life - she supported him both financially and spiritually in difficult moments of Bryullov’s life.

This self-portrait is considered one of the best in world painting. In it, the artist conveyed the mood that possessed him at the end of his life. Bryullov was seriously ill at that time. The master depicts himself reclining in a chair. The red pillow on which the head rests tiredly emphasizes the sickly pallor of the face. The hand of the emaciated arm, powerlessly lowered from the armrest, reinforces the motive of physical suffering. However, it is felt that mental anguish is added to physical suffering. The look of sunken, tired eyes speaks expressively about them. This masterpiece was written in just two hours.

Painting-illustration of Pushkin's poem of the same name. He depicted the “timid wives” of Khan Girey in the garden by the pool, watching the movements of the fish in the water. A eunuch is watching them. With interest and delight the artist conveys the exoticism of the East: whimsical oriental costumes, the lush luxury of nature - all this gives the picture a festive decorative effect. There is no drama in the picture. like in a poem. The idyllic mood makes it a picturesque illustration for the poems:

Carelessly waiting for the khan,

Around a playful fountain

On silk carpets

They sat in a crowd of frolics

And with childish joy they looked,

Like a fish in the clear depths

I walked on the marble bottom.

On purpose to her to the bottom of others

They dropped gold earrings.

The painting was painted in 1827. This is a scene from rural life, seen in one of the Italian places. Bryullov turned it into an elegant ballet performance.

The young peasant woman, like a graceful dancer, rose on her toes and spread her flexible arms, barely touching the vine with a bunch of black grapes. The musicality of her pose emphasizes the tight-fitting slender legs light dress- chiton. A string of corals highlights the slender neck and rosy face framed by curly brown hair.

Another girl, reclining freely on the steps of the house. tinkles the bells of the tambourine and glances coquettishly at the viewer.

IN fun company a little brother in a short shirt intervenes - a kind of bacchanalian cupid who is carrying a wine bottle.