Karl Bryullov was so carried away by the tragedy of the city destroyed by Vesuvius that he personally participated in the excavations of Pompeii, and later carefully worked on the painting: instead three years indicated in the order of the young philanthropist Anatoly Demidov, the artist painted the picture for six whole years.
(About imitation of Raphael, plot parallels with The Bronze Horseman, tours of the work throughout Europe and the fashion for the tragedy of Pompeii among artists.)
The eruption of Vesuvius on August 24-25 in 79 AD was the largest cataclysm Ancient world. About 5 thousand people died on that last day in several coastal cities.
This story is especially well known to us from the painting by Karl Bryullov, which can be seen in the Russian Museum of St. Petersburg.
In 1834, a “presentation” of the painting took place in St. Petersburg. The poet Evgeny Boratynsky wrote the lines: “The last day of Pompeii became the first day for the Russian brush!” The picture amazed Pushkin and Gogol. Gogol captured the secret of its popularity in his inspired article dedicated to the painting:
“His works are the first that can be understood (although not in the same way) by an artist with the highest development of taste, and who does not know what art is.”
Indeed, a work of genius is understandable to everyone, and at the same time, a more developed person will discover in it other planes of a different level.
Pushkin wrote poetry and even sketched part of the composition of the painting in the margins.
Vesuvius opened its mouth - smoke poured out in a cloud - flames
Widely developed as a battle flag.
The earth is agitated - from the shaky columns
Idols fall! A people driven by fear
Under the stone rain, under the inflamed ashes,
In crowds, old and young, flee from the city (III, 332).
This brief retelling paintings, multi-figured and compositionally complex. Not a small canvas at all. In those days it was even the most big picture, which already amazed contemporaries: the scale of the picture, correlated with the scale of the disaster.
Our memory cannot absorb everything; its possibilities are not limitless. You can look at such a picture more than once and see something else every time.
What did Pushkin single out and remember? Researcher of his work Yuri Lotman identified three main thoughts: "the uprising of the elements - the statues begin to move - the people (people) as a victim of disaster". And he made a very reasonable conclusion:
Pushkin has just finished his " Bronze Horseman" and saw what was close to him at that moment.
Indeed, the plot is similar: the elements (flood) are raging, the monument comes to life, the frightened Eugene runs from the elements and the monument.
Lotman also writes about the direction of Pushkin’s view:
“A comparison of the text with Bryullov’s canvas reveals that Pushkin’s gaze slides diagonally from the upper right corner to the lower left. This corresponds to the main compositional axis of the painting.”
Researcher of diagonal compositions, artist and art theorist N. Tarabukin wrote:
Indeed, we are incredibly fascinated by what is happening. Bryullov managed to make the viewer involved in the events as much as possible. There is a "presence effect".
Karl Bryullov graduated from the Academy of Arts in 1823 with a gold medal. Traditionally, gold medalists went to Italy for an internship. There Bryullov visits the workshop Italian artist and copies for 4 years" Athens school"Raphael, and in life size all 50 figures. At this time, Bryullov is visited by the writer Stendhal.
There is no doubt that Bryullov learned a lot from Raphael - the ability to organize a large canvas.
Bryullov came to Pompeii in 1827 with the Countess Maria Grigorievna Razumovskaya. She became the first customer of the painting. However, the rights to the paintings are bought by a sixteen-year-old Anatoly Nikolaevich Demidov, owner of the Ural mining plants, rich man and philanthropist. He had a net annual income of two million rubles.
Nikolai Demidov, the father, who recently died, was a Russian envoy and sponsored excavations in Florence in the Forum and Capitol. Demidov will subsequently give the painting to Nicholas the First, and he will donate it to the Academy of Arts, from where it will go to the Russian Museum.
Demidov signed a contract with Bryullov for a certain period and tried to adjust the artist, but he conceived a grandiose plan and in total the work on the painting took 6 years. Bryullov makes a lot of sketches and collects material.
Bryullov was so carried away that he himself participated in the excavations. It must be said that the excavations began formally on October 22, 1738, by order of the Neapolitan king Charles III, they were carried out by an engineer from Andalusia, Roque Joaquin de Alcubierre, with 12 workers (and these were the first archaeological systematic excavations in history, when detailed records were made of everything that was found, before that there were mainly pirate methods, when precious objects were snatched, and the rest could be barbarically destroyed).
By the time Bryullov appeared, Herculaneum and Pompeii had become not only a site of excavations, but also a place of pilgrimage for tourists. In addition, Bryullov was inspired by Paccini's opera "The Last Day of Pompeii", which he saw in Italy. It is known that he dressed the sitters in costumes for the performance. (Gogol, by the way, compared the picture to an opera; apparently he felt the “theatricality” of the mise-en-scène. It definitely lacks musical accompaniment in the spirit of "Carmina Burana".)
So, after a long time of working with sketches, Bryullov painted a picture and already in Italy it aroused enormous interest. Demidov decided to take her to Paris to the Salon, where she also received a gold medal. In addition, it was exhibited in Milan and London. The writer saw the picture in London Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who later wrote his novel “The Last Days of Pompeii” under the impression of the painting.
It is interesting to compare two aspects of the interpretation of the plot. In Bryullov we see clearly all the action, somewhere nearby there is fire and smoke, but in the foreground there is a clear image of the characters. When panic and mass exodus had already begun, the city was in a fair amount of smoke from the ashes. The artist depicts the rockfall as fine St. Petersburg rain and pebbles scattered on the sidewalk. People are more likely to run away from a fire. In fact, the city was already shrouded in smog, it was impossible to breathe...
In Bulwer-Lytton's novel, the heroes, a couple in love, are saved by a slave, blind from birth. Since she is blind, she easily finds her way in the dark. The heroes are saved and accept Christianity.
Were there Christians in Pompeii? At that time they were persecuted and it is unknown whether the new faith reached the provincial resort. However, Bryullov also contrasts the pagan faith and the death of the pagans with the Christian faith. In the left corner of the picture we see a group of an old man with a cross around his neck and women under his protection. The old man turned his gaze to the heavens, to his God, perhaps he would save him.
By the way, Bryullov copied some of the figures from figures from excavations. By that time, they began to fill the voids with plaster and got very real figures of the dead residents.
Classicist teachers scolded Karl for deviating from the canons classical painting. Karl rushed between the classics absorbed at the Academy with its ideally sublime principles and the new aesthetics of romanticism.
If you look at the picture, you can identify several groups and individual characters, each with their own story. Some were inspired by excavations, some by historical facts.
The artist himself is present in the picture, his self-portrait is recognizable, here he is young, about 30 years old, on his head he carries the most necessary and expensive thing - a box of paints. This is a tribute to the tradition of Renaissance artists to paint their self-portrait in a painting.
The girl nearby is carrying a lamp.
The son carrying his father on himself is reminiscent of the classic story about Aeneas, who carried his father from the burning of Troy.
With one piece of material, the artist unites a family fleeing disaster into a group. During excavations, couples who embraced before death and children with their parents are especially moving.
Two figures, a son persuading his mother to get up and run further, are taken from the letters of Pliny the Younger.
Pliny the Younger turned out to be an eyewitness who left written evidence of the destruction of cities. Two letters have survived that he wrote to the historian Tacitus, in which he talks about the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder, a famous natural scientist, and his own misadventures.
Gaius Pliny was only 17 years old, at the time of the disaster he was studying the history of Titus Livy to write an essay, and therefore refused to go with his uncle to watch the volcanic eruption. Pliny the Elder was then admiral of the local fleet, the position he received for his scientific merits was easy. Curiosity ruined him, and besides, a certain Reczina sent him a letter asking for help. The only way to escape from her villa was by sea. Pliny sailed past Herculaneum; the people on the shore at that moment could still be saved, but he wanted to quickly see the eruption in all its glory. Then the ships, in the smoke, had difficulty finding their way to Stabia, where Pliny spent the night, but died the next day after inhaling air poisoned by sulfur.
Guy Pliny, who remained in Misenum, 30 kilometers from Pompeii, was forced to flee as the disaster reached him and his mother.
Painting by a Swiss artist Angeliki Kaufmann just shows this moment. A Spanish friend persuades Guy and his mother to run away, but they hesitate, thinking to wait for their uncle to return. The mother in the picture is not at all weak, but is still quite young.
They run, her mother asks her to leave her and save herself alone, but Guy helps her move on. Fortunately, they are saved.
Pliny described the horror of the disaster and described the appearance of the eruption, after which it began to be called "Plinian". He saw the eruption from a distance:
“The cloud (those looking from afar could not determine over which mountain it arose; it was recognized later that it was Vesuvius) was most like a pine tree in its shape: it was like a tall trunk rising upward and from it branches seemed to diverge in all directions. I think that it was thrown out by a current of air, but then the current weakened and the cloud, due to its own gravity, began to spread out; in some places it was bright white, in others there were dirty spots, as if from earth and ash raised upward."
The inhabitants of Pompeii had already experienced a volcanic eruption 15 years earlier, but did not draw any conclusions. The reason is the seductive sea coast and fertile lands. Every gardener knows how well crops grow on ashes. Humanity still believes in “maybe it will pass.”
Vesuvius woke up more than once after that, almost once every 20 years. Many drawings of eruptions from different centuries have been preserved.
The last one, in 1944, was quite large-scale, at that time there was an American army in Naples, soldiers helped during the disaster. It is unknown when and what the next one will be.
On the Italian website, the areas of possible casualties during the eruption are marked and it is easy to see that the wind rose is taken into account.
This is what particularly influenced the death of the cities; the wind carried the suspension of ejected particles towards the southeast, just towards the cities of Herculaneum, Pompeii, Stabia and several other small villas and villages. Within 24 hours they found themselves under a multi-meter layer of ash, but before that many people died from a rockfall, burned alive, and died of suffocation. A slight shaking did not indicate an approaching catastrophe, even when stones were already falling from the sky, many chose to pray to the gods and hide in houses, where they later found themselves walled up alive in a layer of ash.
Guy Pliny, who experienced all this in a lighter version in Mezim, describes what happened:
“It’s already the first hour of the day, and the light is uncertain, as if sick. The houses around are shaking; it’s very scary in the open narrow area; they’re about to collapse. It’s finally decided to leave the city; a crowd of people are following us, who have lost their heads and prefer someone else’s decision out of fear it seems reasonable; we are being pressed and pushed in this crowd of people leaving. When we leave the city, we stop. How many amazing things we experienced! The carts that were ordered to accompany us were thrown in different directions; on the placed stones, they could not stand in the same place. We saw the sea moving back; the earth, shaking, seemed to be pushing it forward; many sea animals were stuck in the dry sand. a cloud, which was broken through in different places by running fiery zigzags; it opened up into wide blazing stripes, similar to lightning, but larger.”
We cannot even imagine the suffering of those whose brains exploded from the heat, their lungs became cement and their teeth and bones disintegrated.
K. Bryullov "The Last Day of Pompeii". Left plot
Triumph, glory, recognition - all this came to the Russian painter Karl Bryullov in 1833.
He presented his unique painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” to the eyes of his contemporaries. Those who saw this picture for the first time were delighted and confused, such contradictory feelings were evoked by it. They worshiped Bryullov, he became the talk of the town, newspapers wrote about him. In the history of world painting, the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” became loud and bold statement that Russian painting is on a par with other outstanding world masterpieces.
K. Bryullov "The Last Day of Pompeii"
In 1833, the canvas was exhibited in Milan, in 1834 - in the Paris Salon, in the Hermitage and the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. All of Europe was talking about the picture. Bryullov became the most famous person in Italy. And the Academy of Arts recognized the painting best work XIX century. In Europe the painting was admired, but in Russia it also became an object national pride, a powerful impetus for further development painting. ABOUT " Last day Pompeii" was mentioned by Pushkin and Gogol.
Creating a Masterpiece
Bryullov studied painting in Italy. At the age of 28, he conceived the idea of a majestic canvas dedicated to tragic death an entire city during a volcanic eruption. So the artist began working on “The Last Day of Pompeii.” The plot, although not entirely traditional, should have fully satisfied the strict academic requirements. The topic was so captivating young artist that he devoted a lot of time to studying history. There was research, and familiarization with the works of archaeologists, and with descriptions of Pliny the Younger. Six years of work, many studies and sketches, the artist’s inner experiences and his unbridled creativity yielded results. A monumental canvas appeared before people’s eyes, fully showing the raging elements, the tragedy of people’s situation, their greatness and spiritual beauty. Thoughts, feelings and interests Karla Bryullova fully realized.
The central plot of K. Bryullov’s painting “The Last Day of Pompeii”
Description of the painting
The entire canvas consists of several episodes, harmoniously integrated into the panorama of the dying city. People are powerless in the face of the elements. They are on the verge of life and death and cannot change anything. It was at this moment that the artist found his heroes. They wanted to live, love, create, but death is inevitable. In such a situation, all that remains is to maintain courage and human dignity. The strong extend their helping hands to the weak: women hug their children, young people help the elderly, men help women. People remain human, courageous and merciful, even in such a terrible situation.
The images of the Pompeians are beautiful. Many of them have a touch of realism, because they were written from the living nature of Bryullov’s contemporaries. There is also his self-portrait here. This is an artist who, even at such a tragic moment, could not throw away his box of paints and brushes.
The meaning of the canvas
After the appearance of Bryullov’s canvas in Russia, interest in painting increased. Now this type of art was of interest not only to artists, but also to the most wide circles society. The picture excited, captivated, and did not leave anyone indifferent. After this, many painters realized what a powerful means of influencing the hearts and minds of people they had. Public role painting increased precisely after the appearance of “The Last Day of Pompeii.”
K. Bryullov "The Last Day of Pompeii". Right plot
Bryullov's masterpiece paved the way for a new understanding of the historical plot. For the first time, real life was depicted on canvas. historical event. To recreate it, the author spent a long time studying historical sources and archaeological finds. Such truthfulness became an innovation in all painting. The master used it to further reveal the topic and express the attitude of his contemporaries to the past. The main character of the picture was not a specific person, but the entire people at a specific historical moment.
At the same time, the artist masterfully conveyed the contrast between the new and the old, life and death, the human mind and the blind power of the angry elements. The romantic orientation, the boldness of the plot and the high skill of the artist Bryullov provided the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” with worldwide fame and recognition.
It seems possible for contemporaries to see through the eyes of a painter last moments life of the inhabitants of the city of Pompeii. It must be admitted that in the artist’s hand one can discern the manner of Raphael and Velazquez. The display and detail, so sharply captured, the saturation with crimson and reddish shades, the technique of chiaroscuro - the master absorbed all the best from the artists of that era. Bryullov himself had a very significant influence on the technique and style of drawing of Flavitsky, Serov, Moller and others. He was characterized by a certain academicism and majesty, which he vigorously demonstrated in the painting “The Horsewoman” and “The Siege of Pskov.”
In order to implement his idea (and the idea, it must be admitted, was embodied in a very grandiose manner - on a canvas measuring 465x561 centimeters), Bryullov had to go to the foot of Mount Vesuvius and see the city ruins of Pompeii. There, on the spot, he made sketches for the future canvas, imagining how the revived Vesuvius spews hundreds of thousands of tons of ash and lava onto the confused inhabitants of Pompeii. Writing the work took Bryullov 3 years, and in 1833 he finished writing it.
Immediately after the completion of the picture, it was brought for review to Rome - critics and spectators were unanimous in their flattering reviews. The painting was then taken to an exhibition in Paris and placed in the Louvre. There she was seen by a world-famous writer, Walter Scott. He said that the painting was “unusual, epic.” A year after the end of the Paris exhibition, the canvas finally arrives in Russia, in St. Petersburg. And here, in their homeland, great figures and writers never tire of talking about it. Turgenev left a flattering review, and Baratynsky and Pushkin immediately scattered aphorisms, which were immediately prohibited by censorship.
The style of the work at that time was considered something extraordinary and innovative, since it was ahead of its time. Now this technique is recognized as neoclassicism.
So popular then were the stories on historical topics, Bryullov turned it into a certain reality - the characters depicted are not static, he is all in motion. Their faces are filled with horror and fear. It seems that the artist himself caught the crowd at that very moment - the reality of the painted figures is so great. Not indifferent to Countess Yulia Pavlovna Samoilova, the Tsar's maid of honor, Bryullov could not deny himself the pleasure of capturing her several times in the picture.
Here she appears on the left side of the canvas on a hill, in the image of a woman with a jug on her head, then the image of a woman who fell to her death - she and her child (he is alive) were thrown from the broken steps of the stairs, and finally, she is a mother hugging her daughter. The artist depicted himself as the same painter on the left in the corner of the picture. The artist depicted in very detail and exultation the blazing glow and falling marble statues of gods, over which lightning scattered.
People, maddened by fear, run away from the destruction, but they cannot escape. "The Last Day of Pompeii" presents us with an image of eternal life captured.
Currently, the painting belongs to the Russian Museum, where Nicholas I gave it to him in 1895.
Medieval Christians considered Vesuvius the shortest road to hell. And not without reason: people and cities have died more than once from its eruptions. But the most famous eruption Vesuvius happened on August 24, 79 AD, destroying the flourishing city of Pompeii, located at the foot of the volcano. For more than one and a half thousand years, Pompeii remained buried under a layer of volcanic lava and ash. The city was first discovered completely by accident in late XVI centuries in the production of earthworks.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii
oil on canvas 456 x 651 cm
Archaeological excavations began here in mid-18th century century. They aroused special interest not only in Italy, but throughout the world. Many travelers sought to visit Pompeii, where literally at every step there was evidence of the suddenly ended life of the ancient city.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
In 1827, the young Russian artist Karl Bryullov came to Pompeii. Going to Pompeii, Bryullov did not know that this trip would lead him to the pinnacle of creativity. The sight of Pompeii stunned him. He walked through all the nooks and crannies of the city, touched the walls, rough from boiling lava, and, perhaps, the idea arose of painting a picture about the last day of Pompeii.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Ludwig van Beethoven *Symphony No. 5 - B minor*
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
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.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
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.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
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 studio in their arms. Finally, by mid-1833 the painting was ready. The canvas was exhibited in Rome, where it received rave reviews from critics, and was sent to the Louvre in Paris. This work became the first painting by the artist to arouse such interest abroad. Walter Scott called the painting “unusual, epic.”
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
...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.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
In the face of death the essence is revealed human soul. Here young Pliny persuades his mother, who has fallen to the ground, to gather what remains of her strength and try to escape.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
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.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
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.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
The canvas also depicts Countess Yulia Pavlovna Samoilova three times - a woman with a jug on her head, standing on a raised platform on the left side of the canvas; a woman who fell to her death, stretched out on the pavement, and next to her a living child (both were presumably thrown out of a broken chariot) - in the center of the canvas; and a mother attracting her daughters to her in the left corner of the picture.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
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 Christian religion over the departing pagan.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
On the left in the background is a crowd of fugitives on the steps of the tomb of 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.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
The most central figure of the canvas - a noble woman who fell from a chariot, symbolizes the beautiful, but already leaving ancient world. The baby mourning her is an allegory of the new world, a symbol of the inexhaustible power of life. "The Last Day of Pompeii" convinces us that main value in the world - this is a person. To the destructive forces Bryullov contrasts nature with the spiritual greatness and beauty of man. Brought up on the aesthetics of classicism, the artist strives to give his heroes ideal features and plastic perfection, although it is known that residents of Rome posed for many of them.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
In the autumn of 1833, the painting appeared at an exhibition in Milan and caused an explosion of delight and admiration. An even greater triumph awaited Bryullov at home. Exhibited in the Hermitage and then at the Academy of Arts, the painting became a 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.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Really, world fame Bryullov's painting forever destroyed the disdainful attitude towards Russian artists that existed even in Russia itself.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
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.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
The breakdown of destinies reveals characters. Caring sons They carry a weak father out of hell. The mother covers her children. Desperate young man, gathered with with the last of my strength, does not let go of the precious cargo - the bride. And the handsome man on a white horse hurries away alone: quickly, quickly, save himself, his beloved. Vesuvius mercilessly shows people not only his insides, but also theirs. Thirty-year-old Karl Bryullov understood this perfectly. And he showed it to us.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
“And it was the “Last Day of Pompeii” for the Russian brush,” rejoiced the poet Evgeny Baratynsky. Truly so: the painting was greeted triumphantly in Rome, where he painted it, and then in Russia, and Sir Walter Scott somewhat pompously called the painting “unusual, epic.”
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
And it was a success. Both paintings and masters. And in the fall of 1833, the painting appeared at an exhibition in Milan and the triumph of Karl Bryullov reached its highest point. The name of the Russian master immediately became known throughout the Italian peninsula - from one end to the other.
Karl Bryullov (1799-1852)
Last day of Pompeii (detail)
1830-1833, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
IN Italian newspapers and magazines published rave reviews about “The Last Day of Pompeii” and its author. Bryullov was greeted with applause on the street and given a standing ovation in the theater. Poets dedicated poems to him. When traveling at the borders of the Italian principalities, he was not required to present a passport - it was believed that every Italian was obliged to know him by sight.
Almost 2,000 years ago, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius destroyed several ancient Roman settlements, including the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. "The Futurist" chronicles the events of August 24-25, 79 AD.
The ancient Roman writer and lawyer Pliny the Younger said that this happened at the seventh hour after sunrise (at about noon) on August 24. His mother pointed out to his uncle, Pliny the Elder, the cloud unusual sizes and the form that arose at the top of the mountain. Pliny the Elder, who at that time was the commander of the Roman fleet, went to Misenum to observe a rare natural phenomenon. Over the next two days, 16 thousand inhabitants of the Roman settlements of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae died: their bodies were buried under a layer of ash, stones and pumice thrown out by the raging volcano Vesuvius.
Casts of bodies found during excavations are now on display inside the Baths of Stabian at the archaeological site in Pompeii
Since then, interest in Pompeii has not waned: modern researchers draw digital maps of the destroyed city and go on archaeological expeditions to show us daily life people who died at the foot of the volcano.
Letters from Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus, excavation results and volcanological evidence allow scientists to reconstruct the timetable of the eruption.
Ruins of Pompeii with Vesuvius in the background
12:02 Pliny's mother tells his uncle Pliny the Elder about a strange cloud that appeared over Vesuvius. Before this, the city was shaken by tremors for several days, although this was uncharacteristic for the Campania region. Pliny the Younger would later describe this phenomenon as follows:
“a huge black cloud was quickly approaching... long, fantastic flames burst out of it every now and then, reminiscent of flashes of lightning, only much larger”...
Winds carry most of the ash to the southeast. The “Plinian phase” of the eruption begins.
13:00 To the east of the volcano, ash begins to fall. Pompeii is only six miles from Vesuvius.
14:00 First ash falls on Pompeii, and then white pumice. The layer of volcanic sediments that covered the earth grows at a rate of 10-15 cm per hour. Ultimately, the thickness of the pumice layer will be 280 cm.
The last day of Pompeii, painting by Karl Pavlovich Bryullov, painted in 1830-1833.
17:00 Roofs are collapsing under the mass of volcanic sediments in Pompeii. Fist-sized stones rain down on the city at a speed of 50 m/s. The sun has become covered with an ashy veil, and people seek refuge in the pitch darkness. Many rush to the harbor of Pompeii. In the evening it’s the turn of gray pumice.
23:15 The “Peleian eruption” begins, the first wave of which hit Herculaneum, Boscoreale and Oplontis.
00:00 The 14-kilometer ash column grew to 33 km. Pumice and ash enter the stratosphere. Over the next seven hours, six pyroclastic waves (a gas-laden flow of ash, pumice and lava) will hit the area. People are facing death everywhere. This is how volcanologist Giuseppe Mastrolorenzo describes the night for National Geographic:
“The temperature outside and indoors rose to 300 °C. This is more than enough to kill hundreds of people in a split second. When the pyroclastic wave swept through Pompeii, people did not have time to suffocate. The distorted postures of the victims’ bodies are not a consequence of prolonged agony, but a spasm from heat shock that bent already dead limbs"
