Russian artist Karl Bryullov was undoubtedly quite respected for his skill long before the creation of this masterpiece. Nevertheless, it was “The Last Day of Pompeii” that brought Bryullov, without exaggeration, worldwide fame. Why did the disaster picture have such an impact on the public, and what secrets does it hide from viewers to this day?
Why Pompeii?
At the end of August 79 AD, as a result of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabiae and many small villages became the graves of several thousand local residents. Real archaeological excavations of areas that had sunk into oblivion began only in 1748, that is, 51 years before the birth of Karl Bryullov himself. It is clear that archaeologists worked not just for one day, but for several decades. Thanks to this circumstance, the artist was able to personally visit the excavations and wander through the ancient Roman streets already freed from solidified lava. Moreover, at that moment Pompeii turned out to be the most cleared.
Countess Yulia Samoilova, for whom Karl Pavlovich had warm feelings, also walked there with Bryullov. Later she will play a huge role in the creation of her lover’s masterpiece, and more than one. Bryullov and Samoilova had the opportunity to see the buildings of the ancient city, restored household items, remains dead people. All this left a deep and vivid imprint on the artist’s delicate nature. This was in 1827.
Disappearance of characters
Impressed, Bryullov almost immediately set to work, and very seriously and thoroughly. He visited the vicinity of Vesuvius more than once, making sketches for the future canvas. In addition, the artist familiarized himself with manuscripts that have survived to this day, including letters from an eyewitness to the disaster, the ancient Roman politician and writer Pliny the Younger, whose uncle Pliny the Elder died in the eruption. Of course, such work required a lot of time. Therefore, preparation for writing the masterpiece took Bryullov more than 5 years. The canvas itself, with an area of more than 30 square meters, he created in less than a year. The artist was sometimes unable to walk from exhaustion; he was literally carried out of the studio. But even with such careful preparation and hard work on the masterpiece, Bryullov kept changing the original plan to one degree or another. For example, he did not use a sketch of a thief taking jewelry from a fallen woman.
Same faces
One of the main mysteries that can be found on the canvas is the presence of several identical female faces. This is a girl with a jug on her head, a woman lying on the ground with a child, as well as a mother hugging her daughters, and a person with her husband and children. Why did Bryullov draw them so similar? The fact is that the same lady served as the model for all these characters - the same Countess Samoilova. Despite the fact that the artist drew other people in the picture from ordinary residents of Italy, apparently Samoilov Bryullov, overcome by certain feelings, simply liked to paint.
In addition, in the crowd depicted on the canvas, you can find the painter himself. He portrayed himself as what he was, an artist with a box filled with drawing supplies on his head. This method, as a kind of autograph, was used by many Italian masters. And Bryullov spent many years in Italy and it was there that he studied the art of painting.
Christian and pagan
Among the characters in the masterpiece there is also an adherent of the Christian faith, who is easily recognized by the cross on his chest. A mother and two daughters are huddling close to him, as if seeking protection from the old man. However, Bryullov also painted a pagan priest who quickly runs away, not paying any attention to the frightened townspeople. Undoubtedly, Christianity was persecuted at that time and it is not known for certain whether any of the adherents of this faith could have been in Pompeii at that time. But Bryullov, trying to adhere to the documentary accuracy of events, introduced into his work and hidden meaning. Through the above-mentioned clergy, he showed not only the cataclysm itself, but the disappearance of the old and the birth of the new.
K. Bryullov. Self-portrait. (romanticism)
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 of classicism ( art style, translated from Latin as “exemplary”, taking the traditions of antiquity and the Renaissance as an ideal. Classicism exalts the heroic, high citizenship, a sense of duty, condemns vices.), which 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 Big 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 paintings on both historical and mythological themes, and everyday stories. He also painted illustrations for literary works and a lot of portraits.
The Last Day of Pompeii (1833)
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: not even the most merciless and inevitable forces are able to destroy a person in a person. 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!
Self-Portrait (1848)
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.
Portrait of Yulia Samoilova with her pupil
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 a world of lies, Samoilova, full of human dignity, disdainfully threw off her mask and proudly shows off 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 high society who are used 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.
Bakhchisarai fountain(1849)
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: fancy oriental costumes, the lush luxury of nature - all this gives the picture a festive decorative quality. There is no drama in the film. 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.
Italian noon (1827)
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.
Portrait of the Shishmarev sisters (1839)
Ceremonial portrait daughters of the famous theater lover 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.
Bathsheba (1832)
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 ideal beauty with life's truth in the picture. He writes beauty female body, but with all the sculptural forms that are reminiscent of classicism, this beauty is not cold, but alive, warm. Mythological plot in the spirit of romanticism, it 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.
Girl picking grapes.
The painting was painted in 1827. This is a scene from rural life, seen in one of the Italian towns. 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 is emphasized by the light dress that fits her slender legs - a chiton. A thread of coral sets off a slender neck and a ruddy 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.
Fortune telling Svetlana
On Christmas Eve, girls tell fortunes about their betrothed. So Svetlana, looking in the mirror, wonders. This is a girl from the people - in a kokoshnik, in a sundress, with beads on her chest. The artist, of course, greatly embellished the portrait - girls from the people do not dress like that. Svetlana peers into the mirror and whispers some spells. The girl says passionately magic words, her eyes peer pleadingly into her face, as if she were waiting for her wish to come true. A burning candle stands nearby, illuminating the girl’s face.
Portrait of N. N. Goncharova. 1832
This is the only portrait of Pushkin’s wife created during the poet’s lifetime. This is a true masterpiece of Russian watercolor painting.
The artist does not delve into the character of the young lady. He is entirely influenced by the beauty and charm of youth. Therefore, all the viewer’s attention is focused on her youth, her almost pretty appearance. baby face, and an elegant toilet. She was only 18 years old.
In the portrait, the beautiful Natalie has earrings with expensive diamonds in her ears. The poor Pushkin borrowed them for a ball for his beloved wife from his friend, Pyotr Meshchersky. When the poet saw them on his wife, he insisted that Bryullov paint a portrait wearing these earrings. It should be said that according to legend, these diamonds were not ordinary ones, but “Shirin diamonds” - they are classified as historical “fatal” gems. It was believed. that they cannot be worn by women who do not belong to the Meshchersky family.
Looking at this portrait by Bryullov, one involuntarily recalls lines from Pushkin’s poem dedicated to his beloved wife:
In my simple corner, amidst slow labors,
I wanted to be forever a spectator of one picture,
One: so that from the canvas, like from the clouds,
Most Pure One and our divine savior...
My wishes came true. Creator
He sent you to me, you, my Madona,
The purest example of pure beauty.
Paired portrait of E. Mussard and E. Mussard (1849), watercolor
On the advice of doctors, in 1849 Bryullov left for the island of Madeira, where he stayed for about a year. Here, among a small colony of Russians, the artist met the beautiful Mussard couple. Evgeniy Ivanovich Mussard was the secretary of Duke Maximilian of Lichtenberg and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna. The artist undertook to paint a portrait of the Mussards. Equestrian portrait, ceremonial. Bryullov loved to paint such portraits. And although this is watercolor, the artist masterfully managed to convey the texture of clothing and the beauty of accessories. But their shine does not prevent you from admiring the beautiful Mussard couple on a walk and the look of their magnificent horses.
Death of Inessa de Castro (1834)
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 toward romanticism.
Horsewoman (1823)
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 patter of children’s feet can still be heard in the echoing corridors of the palazzo. 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.
Four s more than a year Karl Bryullov lived in Italy before reaching 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 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 real world.
Researcher Erich Hollerbach noted that heroines similar to each other “ Last day Pompeii", despite social differences, look like representatives of one big family, as if the disaster had brought all the townspeople closer 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 filled with olive oil, vases, bracelets and necklaces found by archaeologists 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.
Pompey, from the past
I continue the story about small towns from the series “small but brave.”
Start on
On these pages I have taken great responsibility to present to you, dear readers Small town Greater Italy - Pompeii.
I am sure that many of you who have visited the south of Italy have not ignored the great Vesuvius and have not denied yourself the pleasure of traveling back into the depths of centuries, i.e. visit Pompeii.
Before traveling to Italy, I knew little about this city; my knowledge was practically limited to famous painting Bryullov’s “The Last Day of Pompeii”, but, preparing for the trip, I decided that the picture would be incomplete without delving into history and trying to understand how people lived in this ancient city, what interests, habits, preferences they had and why their life ended so unexpectedly.
So, what has reached us from the depths of centuries?
Archaeologists date the founding of Pompeii to the middle of the 6th century BC, then Pompey did not stand out in any way from the rest of the cities of Campania (that was the name and is now the name of the fertile region of the Apennine Peninsula, where the city of Pompey was located).
Much later, in the 1st century. BC e. Pompey turns into Cultural Center. An amphitheater for 20 thousand spectators, an Odeon, numerous buildings are being built, and streets are being paved. The city is decorated with sculptures, mosaics, and frescoes. Those were the times when Special attention In the Roman Empire, attention was paid to architecture: water pipelines and bridges, baths and amphitheatres, villas and numerous residential buildings were built.
February 5, 62 AD The first warning of an impending catastrophe sounded - a powerful earthquake occurred in Campania with an epicenter in the vicinity of Pompeii. The city was destroyed. Until this moment, the city experienced mild tremors that did not cause significant damage. By this time, the residents’ sense of danger had dulled.
For the next 15 years, Pompeii was under construction - city residents restored 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 troubles from it.
The tremors did not really bother the townspeople. Each time they repaired the cracks in the houses, simultaneously updating the interior and adding new decorations. No panic.
But in October 79 AD. Vesuvius, which had been dozing until now, finally woke up and brought down all its power on the city, as if taking revenge on the people for many years of neglect of its great person.
Tremors, flakes of ash, stones falling from the sky - all this flew at great speed towards the city. People tried to take refuge in houses, but died there from suffocation or under the ruins. Death overtook everywhere: in theatres, markets, forums, churches, on the streets of the city, beyond its boundaries. But most of the residents still managed to leave the city.
Vesuvius raged all day. Pompeii was covered with a multi-meter layer of ash. Dust and ash hung in the sky like a black shroud for the next three days. The city was lost irrevocably.
Bryullov's painting “The Last Day of Pompeii”
“Striving for the greatest authenticity of the image, Bryullov studied excavation materials and historical documents. Architectural structures in the picture he restored them from the remains of ancient monuments; household items and women's jewelry were copied from exhibits located in the Naples Museum. The figures and heads of the people depicted were painted mainly from life, from the inhabitants of Rome. Numerous sketches of individual figures, entire groups and sketches of the painting show the author’s desire for maximum psychological, plastic and coloristic expressiveness.
Bryullov constructed the picture as separate episodes, at first glance not connected with each other. The connection becomes clear only when the gaze simultaneously covers all groups, the whole picture.”
One Hundred Great Paintings" by N.A. Ionin, Veche Publishing House, 2002.
Thanks to the sudden and rapid death, Pompeii turned out to be the best preserved ancient city, since all the furnishings of the houses remained intact under a layer of hardened lava.
To date, through the work of archaeologists, 3/5 of the city has been discovered (they decided to leave the rest to future generations!): defensive walls, gates, necropolises, blocks of residential buildings with mosaics, frescoes and sculptures, two forums, an amphitheater and two theaters, temples and much more are available to inspection.
Let's enter the gates of the city of Pompeii.
Unexpectedly, right next to the gate, barely crossing the threshold, upon entering the city, I saw a well-preserved image of a phallus on the floor tiles.
Wow! - I was dumbfounded - however, it was a cheerful little town!
- Isn’t it true that they acted more than extravagantly in ancient times?
I can’t even imagine what would happen if people now tried to behave the same way... - approx. author.
Plates with images of she-wolves or phalluses, which previously hung on houses, have long been in the museums of Naples, and one can only believe the guides that they once hung here and here. Ancient gentlemen did not hesitate to show off if they had anything, and ordered special plaques from artists depicting their dignity and its size, which they attached above the threshold of their house.
It is easy to guess what an extraordinary city Pompeii was and why sailors and warriors always flocked there. There were plenty of luponaries in the city: they were located in hotels and private houses on the second floors, or on the first floors with a separate entrance, but there were none in the baths and thermal baths (paradox, nowadays intimate services flourish in bathhouses! - author’s note). The Romans loved to wash and did not want to be distracted from this sacred activity by different
They are easy to understand; there were no bathrooms in houses in which we perceive the lack of hot water for two weeks as a natural disaster! The ancients had to go to public institutions, where they managed to combine business with pleasure: they could wash themselves and meet with friends and neighbors. - approx. author.
The luponarias have preserved interesting frescoes that put visitors in the right mood; these frescoes should not be shown to children. Many frescoes of an erotic nature are found in private homes, which indicates serious attitude former owners to issues of sex. If you take a closer look, you will be surprised to find that little has changed in intimate services since ancient times.
To Europeans in Pompeii, the doorways will seem narrow, the ceilings low, the boxes short, the rooms small. Ancient people were small in size, about the size of modern Japanese.
In Pompeii you will find many marble columns that now support nothing except the sky, mosaics, frescoes, picturesque ruins, an ancient toilet and the remains of an ancient water supply system.
Only rich houses, fountains and baths were connected to the water supply. Ordinary townspeople collected water from fountains, so there are no signs of running water in their houses. Only large containers for collecting rainwater have survived.
Life-size plaster figurines of ancient inhabitants are on display.
Nowadays there are about 30 streets and alleys in Pompeii. The houses were mostly two-story, located towards the street with a blank wall, which suggests that the ancient people did not have the desire to expose their personal lives. Entire city blocks were occupied by thermal baths, favorite places of leisure for citizens. Other places of leisure and entertainment are located peripherally, theaters are concentrated there. The city is surrounded by a fortress wall with several gates.
During performances in the theater, the seats are installed and then removed.
In Pompeii, the principle of “gentle” restoration is applied, implying the restoration and restoration of only a small percentage of buildings or individual structural elements. The purpose of this approach is to show, i.e. hint at how this or that object could look in its completed form, allow for analogies to be drawn with other objects, without disturbing the connection with reliable archaeological heritage - note. architect
There are practically no further excavations being carried out, because... there is an urgent question of preserving what has already been revealed.
Nowadays, a new enemy is attacking Pompeii - a variety of vegetation that is making its way everywhere, inexorably continuing the process of destruction of the city. No means of combating this enemy have yet been found.
Visually, the vegetation gives a certain charm to the city. The red heads of blooming poppies, here and there thin young trees swaying in the light breeze, enhance the feeling of peace and abandonment, reminiscent of peaceful life and the tragedy that once broke out here.
Karl Pavlovich Bryullov(1799 - 1852),
Artist.
Self-portrait
Karl Bryullov was born on December 12, 1799 in St. Petersburg. Grew up in artistic family: his brothers, father, grandfather, great-grandfather were artists.
He successfully graduated from the Academy of Arts, where his father taught. Thanks to his rare talent and considerable home preparation, from the first steps he stood out among his peers.
In 1821, the Society for the Encouragement of Artists was established in St. Petersburg, the main goal of which was to help artists by all possible means and promote the wide dissemination of all fine arts. It was Karl Bryullov and his brother Alexander who were the first to go to Italy, to Rome, with the Society’s money.
Portrait of the architect A.P. Bryullov, brother of the artist
And on the eve of their trip abroad, their original surname “Brullo” was given Russian ending, both now became “Bryullovs”. Young Russian artists became thoroughly acquainted with the history and art of Western Europe.
Portrait of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. 1837
There Karl painted the painting "Italian Morning", which made him an unusually popular artist.
Italian morning
His heroine, washing herself under the jets of a fountain, penetrated by the sun's rays, airy and light, is perceived as the personification of the morning itself, the morning of a rising new day, the morning of human life.
Italian noon
The Great Karl - this is what the contemporaries of the remarkable Russian artist Karl Pavlovich Bryullov called him during his lifetime. Bryullov’s huge canvas, “The Last Day of Pompeii,” which he painted in Italy, brought him worldwide recognition. The name of Karl Bryullov was now placed next to the names of Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck.
The last day of Pompeii
The plot of the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” is the death of the ancient city of Pompeii as a result of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Working to implement his plan, he carefully studied historical material, in particular the testimony of an eyewitness to the disaster - the Roman writer and statesman - Pliny the Younger, and went to the site archaeological excavations, where he made many sketches and sketches from life.
Tragic loss of life during the eruption of Vesuvius, poetics of feelings, greatness human spirit in front of the blind elements illustrated the artist’s dramatic perception of life.
In 1836, K.P. Bryullov returned to Russia and took the position of professor at the Academy of Arts.
In St. Petersburg, the artist created a gallery of portraits of his contemporaries.
Rider
Portrait of Yu.P. Samoilova with her adopted daughter Amalia 1842