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 who has 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 largest painting, which already amazed contemporaries: the scale of the painting, 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? A 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) rage, the monument comes to life, the frightened Evgeniy runs away 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 picture.”
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 for 4 years he copies Raphael’s “School of Athens”, all 50 figures in life size. 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 together 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 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 obtained very real figures of the dead residents.
Classicist teachers scolded Karl for deviating from the canons of 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, he is 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 been preserved 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 began to spread wider due to its own gravity; in some places it was bright-colored. white, in places with 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. Guilt - seductive sea coast and fertile lands. Every gardener knows how well crops grow on ashes. Humanity still believes in “maybe it will blow over.”
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 american army, 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 the approaching disaster, 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.
Employees of the Murom Historical and Art Museum. The article is called “Masterpiece and Tragedy or the History of One Painting” and is dedicated to a brilliant painting Karla Bryullova"The Last Day of Pompeii".
I really liked the article, I quoted it, but quotes are rarely read, and with the permission of the author, I am posting it in its entirety in this post, slightly embellished with reproductions of the painting and musical accompaniment.
Read it, I assure you, you won’t regret it...
Walking through the halls of the Murom Gallery, guests of Murom often freeze in amazement at one inconspicuous, at first glance, exhibit. It's simple black and white drawing in a regular frame behind glass. It would seem, why does it attract museum visitors so much? However, having peered into his faded features, it is difficult to contain an involuntary sigh of admiration. The yellowish paper of the exhibit depicts a plot familiar to many from childhood. famous painting. Before the guests is Karl Bryullov’s sketch for his famous painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” - one of the brightest pearls of the Murom Gallery!
It is a rare museum that can boast of such an acquisition in its collection. Sometimes this sketch surprises even guests from Moscow and St. Petersburg. And they are fascinated not only by the uniqueness of the old drawing, but also by the attraction of the tragic plot conveyed by the artist’s genius.
And indeed, this small yellowed leaf tells viewers not only about terrible disaster antiquity, but also about how the greatest canvas of Russian painting was created.
ON THE EVE OF THE TRAGEDY.
Bryullov’s talented brush revealed to us one of the pictures of the terrible tragedy of the Ancient World. Over two fateful days, August 24 and 25, 79 AD, several Roman cities ceased to exist - Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabia and Octavianum. And the reason for this was the awakening of the Vesuvius volcano, at the foot of which these settlements were located.
People have long appreciated the high, incomparable fertility of volcanic soils and began to cultivate them since time immemorial. Scientists have written sources at their disposal that more than two thousand years ago, rich harvests were harvested around Vesuvius and on its slopes.
At the beginning of the 1st century. Vesuvius was covered with dense forest with wild grapes. At its top there was an overgrown cup-shaped depression - traces of an ancient crater, preserved after the volcano's 300-year dormant period. In this crater in 72 Spartacus was hiding with rebel slaves. 3,000 soldiers led by praetor Clodius Pulker were sent to search for him. However, Spartacus eluded them and escaped to the plain surrounding the volcano from the north.
Volcanic ash and tuff, which covered the gentle slopes of Vesuvius and its environs like a cloak, made the lands around it unusually fertile. Corn, barley, nuts, wheat, and grapes grew especially well. No wonder this area was famous for its excellent wines.
And at the beginning new era the area near the Bay of Naples was also a favorite place of residence for wealthy Romans. In the north was the city of Herculaneum, to the south were Pompeii and Stabia - three kind of country suburbs of Naples. The patricians were attracted here by the mild and warm climate. Therefore, this part of the shore of the bay near Naples was built up with rich villas.
The first signs of Vesuvius's concern were noticed back in mid-August 79. But then few people were puzzled by this. Similar surprises have been seen behind the volcano before. The last time he thoroughly “disturbed” Pompeii was on February 5, 62 AD. A powerful earthquake destroyed the city, but this did not serve as a lesson to its residents. They were in no hurry to leave their homes. And this is no coincidence!
So, 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.
DAY OF THE WRATH OF THE GODS.B
Vesuvius opened its mouth - smoke poured out in a cloud - flames
spread widely as a battle flag.
The earth is agitated - from the shaky columns
Idols fall! A people driven by fear
Under the stone rain, under the inflamed ashes,
Crowds, old and young, are running out of the city.
A.S. Pushkin.
August 24 began as the most ordinary day in the life of Pompeii. In the morning there was no sign of the impending tragedy. Bright sun the city streets were flooded. The people leisurely went about their business, discussing latest news. Shops were open, incense was smoked in temples, and in the city theater they were preparing for a performance - on this day the next gladiator fights were supposed to take place. These handsome warriors proudly walked along the streets of Pompeii, laughing, reading the inscriptions on the walls of houses that numerous fans left for them.
Now, almost 2000 years later, we know literally minute by minute what happened in those tragic days. And this is thanks to two stunning letters from Pliny the Younger, an eyewitness to the tragedy.
On August 24, at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, a giant white cloud with brown spots began to quickly rise above Vesuvius. It grew and spread out to the sides at altitude, reminiscent of the crown of a Mediterranean pine tree. A terrible roar was heard near the volcano, and continuous tremors occurred, which were also felt in Miseno (about 30 km from Pompeii), where Pliny’s family was located. The lines of his letter say that the shaking was so strong that carts were thrown from side to side, tiles fell off houses and statues and obelisks collapsed.
The sky suddenly became menacing, the cloud became darker and darker...
The sun was completely hidden behind the heavy ashfall, and pitch darkness set in. This further increased people's anxiety and confusion. At the same time, there were heavy downpours on the western slopes of the volcano, which occur frequently during eruptions. Loose ash and pumice strata on the slopes, “saturated” with water, rushed down in powerful mud, apparently , hot streams - lahars. Three such streams, following one after another, covered the city of Herculaneum, located on the seashore, destroying all life in the blink of an eye.
Hercalaneum was the first to die, since it was located almost at the foot of Vesuvius. Its city residents, who tried to escape, died under lava and ash.
The fate of Pompeii turned out differently. There was no flow of mud here, the only salvation from which, apparently, was flight; here it all started with volcanic ash, which could be easily shaken off. However, lapilli soon began to fall, then pieces of pumice, several kilograms each.
The full danger became clear only gradually. And when people finally realized what was threatening them, it was already too late. Sulfur vapors descended on the city; they crawled into all the cracks, penetrated under the bandages and scarves with which people covered their faces - it became increasingly difficult to breathe... Trying to break free, to swallow fresh air, the townspeople ran out into the street - here they fell under a hail of lapilli and returned back in horror, but as soon as they crossed the threshold of the house, the ceiling collapsed on them, burying them under its rubble. . It was impossible to go outside without covering your head with a pillow, as heavy stones fell on your head along with the ashes. Some managed to delay their death: they hid under staircases and in galleries, spending there in dying fear the last half hour of their lives. However, later sulfur vapors penetrated there too.
By the time the horrified residents realized the seriousness and danger of their situation, the streets were already buried under a thick layer of ash, and it kept falling and falling from the sky. Soft ash on the ground, falling ash from the sky, sulfurous fumes in the air...
People, mad with fear and horror, ran, stumbled and fell, dying right in the streets, and were instantly covered in ash. Some of them decided to stay in houses where there was no ash, but the houses quickly filled with toxic fumes, and hundreds of people died from suffocation. Many found their deaths under the ruins of their own houses, were crushed by roofs that collapsed under the weight of the ash.
The final blow of Vesuvius on the unfortunate cities was a fiery wall of lava, forever burying the once flourishing settlements.
Forty-eight hours later, the sun shone again, but by that time both Pompeii and Herculaneum had already ceased to exist. In place of olive trees and green vineyards, on marble villas and throughout the city, ash and wave-like lava lay. Everything within a radius of eighteen kilometers was destroyed. Moreover, the ashes even carried to Syria and Egypt.
Now only a thin column of smoke was visible above Vesuvius, and the sky was blue again...
However, despite the scale of the tragedy, out of twenty thousand inhabitants of Pompeii, only two thousand died. Many residents realized in time what the eruption could threaten them with and tried to quickly escape to a safe place.
Almost seventeen centuries have passed. In the middle of the 18th century, people of a different culture and different customs took up spades and dug up what had been resting underground for so long.
Before the excavations began, only the fact of the death of two cities during the eruption of Vesuvius was known. Now this tragic incident gradually emerged more and more clearly and the reports about it by ancient writers became flesh and blood. The terrifying scope of this catastrophe and its suddenness became increasingly visible: everyday life was interrupted so quickly that the piglets were left in the ovens and the bread in the ovens. What story could, for example, be told by the remains of two skeletons with slave chains still on their legs? What did these people endure - chained, helpless, in those hours when everything around them was dying? What kind of torment did this dog have to experience before it died? She was found under the ceiling of one of the rooms: chained, she rose along with the growing layer of lapilli, penetrating into the room through windows and doors, until she finally came across an insurmountable barrier - the ceiling, barked at last time and suffocated.
Under the blows of the spade, pictures of the death of families and terrifying human dramas were revealed. . Some mothers were found with children in their arms; Trying to save the children, they covered them with the last piece of cloth, but they died together. Some men and women managed to grab their treasures and run to the gate, but here they were overtaken by a hail of lapilli, and they died, clutching their jewelry and money in their hands.
"Cave Canem" - "Beware of the dog" reads the inscription from the mosaic in front of the door of one house. Two girls died on the threshold of this house: they hesitated to escape, trying to collect their things, and then it was too late to escape. At the Hercules Gate the bodies of the dead lay almost side by side; the load of household belongings they were dragging turned out to be too much for them. The skeletons of a woman and a dog were found in one of the rooms. Careful research has made it possible to reconstruct the tragedy that took place here. In fact, why was the skeleton of the dog preserved in its entirety, while the remains of the woman were scattered throughout the room? Who could have scattered them? Maybe they were taken away by a dog, in which, under the influence of hunger, the wolf nature awoke? Perhaps she delayed the day of her death by attacking her own mistress and tearing her to pieces. Nearby, in another house, the events of the fateful day were interrupted by a wake. The funeral feast participants reclined around the table; This is how they were found seventeen centuries later - they turned out to be participants in their own funeral.
In one place, death overtook seven children playing, unsuspectingly, in a room. In the other there are thirty-four people and with them a goat, which, apparently, was trying, desperately ringing its bell, to find salvation in the imaginary strength of human habitation. Neither courage, nor prudence, nor strength could help those who were too slow to flee. The skeleton of a man of truly Herculean build was found; he was also unable to protect his wife and fourteen-year-old daughter, who were running ahead of him: all three remained lying on the road. True, in a last-ditch effort, the man apparently made another attempt to rise, but, stupefied by the poisonous fumes, he slowly sank to the ground, turned over on his back and froze. The ashes that covered him seemed to take a cast from his body; scientists poured plaster into this mold and obtained a sculptural image of the deceased Pompeian.
One can imagine what a noise, what a roar was heard in a buried house, when a person left in it or left behind from others suddenly discovered that it was no longer possible to get out through the windows and doors; he tried to cut a passage in the wall with an ax; not finding a way to salvation here, he took on the second wall, and when a stream rushed towards him from this wall, he, exhausted, sank to the floor.
The houses, the temple of Isis, the amphitheater - everything has been preserved intact. There were wax tablets in the offices, papyrus scrolls in the libraries, tools in the workshops, strigils (scrapers) in the baths. On the tables in the taverns there were still dishes and money, thrown in a hurry by the last visitors. Love poems and beautiful frescoes are preserved on the walls of the taverns.
“AND THE LAST DAY OF POMPEII BECAME THE FIRST DAY FOR THE RUSSIAN BRUSH...”
Karl Bryullov first visited the excavations of Pompeii in the summer of 1827. The story of the tragic catastrophe that befell the ancient city completely captured all the thoughts of the painter. Most likely, it was then that he conceived the idea of creating a monumental historical painting.
The artist began to collect the necessary materials before starting to paint the picture. An important source of information for him were letters from an eyewitness to the disaster, Pliny the Younger, to the Roman historian Tacitus, which contained details of the disaster.
Bryullov studied the customs of ancient Italy, visited Naples several times, explored the destroyed Pompeii, walked along its streets, examined in detail the houses preserved under volcanic ash with all the furnishings and utensils. He visited the Naples Museum, where there were amazingly vivid imprints of human bodies covered with hot ashes. He makes a series of sketches: landscapes, ruins, fossilized figures.
The artist attended Pacini’s opera “The Last Day of Pompeii” several times and dressed his sitters in the costumes of the heroes of this performance. Based on materials archaeological excavations Bryullov paints not only all household items. He will depict some figures in the very poses that preserved the voids formed in the solidified lava in place of incinerated bodies - a mother with daughters, a woman who fell from a chariot, a group of young spouses. The artist took the image of the young man and his mother from Pliny.
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. However, even poor health does not stop his work.
And so the final composition of the painting was born.
The crowd in the picture is divided into separate groups, from which the viewer gradually reads the artist’s literary intention - to depict the feelings and behavior of people in the face of death.
Each group has its own content, arising from general content paintings. The mother seeks to shelter the children. The sons save their old father and carry him on their shoulders. The groom carries away the unconscious bride. A weak mother convinces her son not to burden himself, and the father of the family, with the last movement in his life, tries to shelter his loved ones. But the rider, who has a much greater chance of escape than others, rushes at full speed, not wanting to help anyone. And the priest, whom they used to listen to and believed, cowardly leaves the dying city, hoping to remain unnoticed.
In one of the background groups the artist depicted himself. In his eyes it is not so much the horror of death as close attention artist, aggravated by the terrible spectacle. He carries on his head the most valuable thing - a box of paints and other painting supplies. It seems that he has slowed down and is trying to remember the picture unfolding before him.
And now the canvas was finished. Preparation for the masterpiece took six years of the master’s life (1827-1833). But its success was also enormous.
Long before the end, people in Rome began to talk about the marvelous work of the Russian artist. When the doors of his studio on St. Claudius Street opened wide to the public, and when the painting was later exhibited in Milan, the Italians were indescribably delighted. The name of Karl Bryullov immediately became famous throughout the Italian peninsula - from one end to the other. When meeting on the streets, everyone took off their hat to him; when he appeared in the theaters, everyone stood up; at the door of the house where he lived, or the restaurant where he dined, many people always gathered to greet him.
The real triumph awaited K. Bryullov at home. The painting was brought to Russia in July 1834, and it immediately became a subject of patriotic pride and became the center of attention of Russian society. Numerous engraved and lithographic reproductions" Last day Pompeii" spread the fame of K. Bryullov far beyond the capital. The best representatives of Russian culture enthusiastically greeted the famous painting: A.S. Pushkin translated its plot into verse, N.V. Gogol called the painting a “worldwide creation” in which everything is “so powerful , so boldly, so harmoniously combined into one, as only it could arise in the head of a universal genius." But even these own praises seemed insufficient to the writer, and he called the picture " bright resurrection painting. He (K. Bryullov) is trying to grasp nature with a gigantic embrace."
E.A. Boratynsky, composed a laudatory ode for this occasion. Words from which - “The last day of Pompeii became the first day for the Russian brush!” - later became a famous aphorism.
The owner of the painting, Anatoly Demidov, presented the painting to Nicholas I, who exhibited the painting at the Academy of Arts as a guide for aspiring painters. After the opening of the Russian Museum in 1895, the painting was exhibited there, and the general public gained access to it.
Note.
This is roughly what the painter Karl Pavlovich Bryullov looked like while working on his painting. This is a self-portrait of the artist, dated "circa 1833." He was only 28 years old when he began this work, and 34 when he completed the painting.
This is how he depicted himself on the canvas (remember, with a box on his head...), you can best see him in the first fragment of the picture from the top.
Bryullov Karl Pavlovich (1799-1852). "The Last Day of Pompeii"With the magical touch of his brush, historical, portrait, watercolor, perspective, landscape painting was resurrected, for which he gave living examples in his paintings. The artist’s brush barely had time to follow his imagination, images of virtues and vices swarmed in his head, constantly replacing one another, entire historical events grew to the most vivid concrete outlines.
Self-portrait. Around 1833Karl Bryullov was 28 years old when he decided to paint the grandiose painting “The Last Day of Pompeii.” The artist owed the emergence of interest in this topic to his older brother, the architect Alexander Bryullov, who acquainted him in detail with the excavations of 1824-1825. K. Bryullov himself was in Rome during these years, the fifth year of his retirement in Italy was expiring. He already had several serious works under his belt, which had considerable success in the artistic community, but none of them seemed to the artist himself to be quite worthy of his talent. He felt that he had not yet lived up to the expectations placed on him.
"The Last Day of Pompeii"
1830-1833
Oil on canvas. 456.5 x 651 cm
State Russian MuseumFor a long time now, Karl Bryullov has been haunted by the conviction that he can create a work more significant than those he has done so far. Conscious of his strengths, he wanted to complete a large and complex picture and thereby destroy the rumors that were beginning to circulate in Rome. He was especially annoyed by the gentleman Cammuccini, who was considered at that time the first Italian painter. It was he who distrusted the talent of the Russian artist and often said: “Well, this Russian painter is capable of small things. But a colossal work needs to be done by someone bigger!”
Others, too, although they recognized Karl Bryullov’s great talent, noted that frivolity and an absent-minded life would never allow him to concentrate on a serious work. Incited by these conversations, Karl Bryullov was constantly looking for a plot for big picture, which would glorify his name. For a long time he could not dwell on any of the topics that came to his mind. Finally he came across a plot that took over all his thoughts.
At this time, Paccini's opera "L" Ultimo giorno di Pompeia" was successfully performed on the stages of many Italian theaters. There is no doubt that Karl Bryullov saw it, maybe even more than once. In addition, together with the nobleman A.N. Demidov (a chamberlain and cavalier of His Majesty the Russian Emperor) he examined the destroyed Pompeii, and knew from his own experience what a strong impression these ruins make on the viewer, preserving traces of ancient chariots, these houses, as if these were only recently abandoned by their owners; public buildings and temples, amphitheaters, where it seems as if gladiatorial battles ended just yesterday; country tombs bearing the names and titles of those whose ashes are still preserved in surviving urns.
All around, just as many centuries ago, lush green vegetation covered the remains of the unfortunate city. And above all this rises the dark cone of Vesuvius, smoking menacingly in the welcoming azure sky. In Pompeii, Bryullov eagerly asked the servants who had been supervising the excavations for a long time about all the details.
Of course, the impressionable and receptive soul of the artist responded to the thoughts and feelings aroused by the remains of the ancient Italian city. At one of these moments, the thought flashed into his mind to imagine these scenes on a large canvas. He communicated this idea to A.N. Demidov with such fervor that he promised to provide funds for the implementation of this plan and to purchase Karl Bryullov’s future painting in advance.
With love and fervor, Karl Bryullov set about executing the painting and quite soon made the initial sketch. However, other activities distracted the artist from Demidov’s order and the painting was not ready by the deadline (end of 1830). Dissatisfied with such circumstances, A.N. Demidov almost destroyed the terms of the agreement concluded between them, and only K. Bryullov’s assurances that he would immediately get to work corrected the whole matter.
Last day of Pompeii1. 1827-1830
Last day of Pompeii2. 1827-1830
Last day of Pompeii. 1828And indeed, he set to work with such diligence that two years later he completed the colossal canvas. Brilliant artist drew his inspiration not only from the ruins of destroyed Pompeii, he was also inspired by the classical prose of Pliny the Younger, who described the eruption of Vesuvius in his letter to the Roman historian Tacitus.
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.
Long before the end, people in Rome began to talk about the marvelous work of the Russian artist. When the doors of his studio on St. Claudius Street opened wide to the public and when the painting was later exhibited in Milan, the Italians were indescribably delighted. The name of Karl Bryullov immediately became famous throughout the Italian peninsula - from one end to the other. When meeting on the streets, everyone took off their hat to him; when he appeared in the theaters, everyone stood up; at the door of the house where he lived, or the restaurant where he dined, many people always gathered to greet him.
Italian newspapers and magazines glorified Karl Bryullov as a genius equal to the greatest painters of all times, poets sang of him in poetry, about his new picture Entire treatises were written. English writer V. Scott called it an epic of painting, and Cammuccini (ashamed of his previous statements) hugged K. Bryullov and called him a colossus. Since the Renaissance itself, no artist has been the object of such universal worship in Italy as Karl Bryullov.
He presented to the amazed gaze all the merits of an impeccable artist, although it has long been known that even greatest painters did not possess equally all the perfections in their happiest combination. However, K. Bryullov’s drawing, the lighting of the picture, and its artistic style are completely inimitable. The painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” introduced Europe to the mighty Russian brush and Russian nature, which is capable of reaching almost unattainable heights in every field of art.
What is depicted in the painting by Karl Bryullov?
Vesuvius burning in the distance, from whose depths rivers of fiery lava flow in all directions. The light from them is so strong that the buildings closest to the volcano seem to be already on fire. One French newspaper noted this pictorial effect that the artist wanted to achieve and pointed out: “An ordinary artist, of course, would not fail to take advantage of the eruption of Vesuvius to illuminate his picture; but Mr. Bryullov neglected this means. Genius inspired him with a bold idea, equally happy, as well as inimitable: to illuminate the entire front part of the picture with the quick, minute and whitish brilliance of lightning, cutting through the thick cloud of ash covering the city, while the light from the eruption, barely breaking through the deep darkness, casts a reddish penumbra into the background.”
Indeed, the main color scheme that K. Bryullov chose for his painting was extremely bold for that time. This was the gamma of the spectrum, built on blue, red and yellow flowers, illuminated by white light. Green, pink, blue are found as intermediate tones.
Having decided to paint a large canvas, K. Bryullov chose one of the most difficult methods of its compositional construction, namely light-shadow and spatial. This required the artist to accurately calculate the effect of the painting at a distance and mathematically determine the incidence of light. And in order to create the impression of deep space, he had to pay the most serious attention to the aerial perspective.
In the center of the canvas there is a prostrate figure of a murdered young woman, as if it was with her that Karl Bryullov wanted to symbolize the dying ancient world(a hint of such an interpretation was already found in the reviews of contemporaries). This noble family was leaving in a chariot, hoping to escape by hasty escape. But, alas, it’s too late: death overtook them on the way. The frightened horses shake the reins, the reins break, the axle of the chariot breaks, and the woman sitting in them falls to the ground and dies. Next to the unfortunate woman lie various jewelry and precious objects that she took with her to last path. And the unbridled horses carry her husband further - also to certain death, and he tries in vain to stay in the chariot. A child reaches out to the mother's lifeless body...
The unfortunate townspeople are looking for salvation, driven by fire, continuous eruptions of lava and falling ash. This is a whole tragedy of human horror and human suffering. The city perishes in a sea of fire, statues, buildings - everything falls down and flies towards the maddened crowd. How many different faces and positions, how many colors in these faces!
Here a courageous warrior and his young brother are in a hurry to shelter their elderly father from the inevitable death... They are carrying a weakened old man, who is trying to push away, to remove from himself the terrible ghost of death, trying to shield himself from the ash falling on him with his hand. The dazzling shine of lightning, reflected on his brow, makes the old man’s body tremble... And on the left, near the Christian, a group of women looks longingly at the ominous sky...
One of the first to appear in the picture was the group of Pliny and his mother. A young man in a wide-brimmed hat leans towards an elderly woman in an impetuous movement. Here (in the right corner of the picture) the figure of a mother and daughters emerges...
The owner of the painting, A.N. Demidov was delighted with the resounding success of “The Last Day of Pompeii” and certainly wanted to show the picture in Paris. Thanks to his efforts, it was exhibited at the Art Salon of 1834, but even before that, the French had heard about the exceptional success of K. Bryullov’s painting among the Italians. But a completely different situation reigned in French painting 1830s, it was the scene of fierce struggle between various artistic directions, and therefore K. Bryullov’s work was greeted without the enthusiasm that befell him in Italy. Despite the fact that the reviews of the French press were not very favorable for the artist, the French Academy of Arts awarded Karl Bryullov an honorary gold medal.
The real triumph awaited K. Bryullov at home. The painting was brought to Russia in July 1834, and it immediately became a subject of patriotic pride and became the center of attention of Russian society. Numerous engraved and lithographic reproductions of “The Last Day of Pompeii” spread the fame of K. Bryullov far beyond the capital. The best representatives of Russian culture enthusiastically greeted the famous painting: A.S. Pushkin translated its plot into poetry, N.V. Gogol called the painting a “universal creation,” in which everything “is so powerful, so bold, so harmoniously combined into one, as soon as it could arise in the head of a universal genius.” But even these own praises seemed insufficient to the writer, and he called the picture “the bright resurrection of painting. He (K. Bryullov) is trying to grab nature with a gigantic embrace.”
Evgeny Baratynsky dedicated the following lines to Karl Bryullov:
He brought the spoils of peace
Take it with you to your father's canopy.
And there was the "Last Day of Pompeii"
First day for the Russian brush."One Hundred Great Paintings" by N.A. Ionin, Veche Publishing House, 2002
Original post and comments at
The most significant historical events have always been reflected in works of art. They excited the imagination of both contemporaries and those who were centuries separated from what happened. Such a grandiose tragedy that claimed the lives of many people was the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which buried the prosperous and beautiful city of Pompeii under a layer of ash.
Impressed by his visit to the excavations, Karl Bryullov got the idea to create the painting “The Death of Pompeii.” Interest in this historical event did not arise on its own, but thanks to the stories of the artist’s brother, architect Alexander Bryullov. Besides, works of art with similar plots were in vogue at that time. The painter, who had been in Italy for quite a long time, began to feel a somewhat disdainful attitude towards himself and his work on the part of local artists. Some of them believed that Karl was not capable of painting anything more significant than the small plot paintings for which he became famous. Conceiving " Last day of Pompeii", Bryullov not only wanted to create a canvas colossal in size and idea, but also to dispel the prejudices of arrogant Italians.
Almost six years passed from the first sketches to the appearance of the final version of the painting. The painting, considered one of the artist's most significant works, is located in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and is one of the most frequently visited and beloved by the public. However, its writing was preceded by the creation of many sketches made in pencil, watercolor and oil. One of the versions of “The Death of Pompeii”, which Bryullov wrote in 1828, is in the State Tretyakov Gallery, and arouses no less interest among visitors than the finished work.
Looking at him, one can easily imagine what a huge significance it was for the young ambitious painter to paint a masterpiece dedicated to tragic death ancient city. Each sketch is next stage the artist’s creative path, bringing him closer to his final goal.
Description of Bryullov’s painting “The Last Day of Pompeii”
Studying a canvas with a plot on historical topic- a most exciting activity. It is even more interesting to get acquainted with the sketches preceding its creation. Many details, the general mood of the picture, color - everything undergoes changes depending on how the artist’s vision changes, what becomes more significant for him or fades into the background.
The time during which Bryullov wrote “The Last Day of Pompeii” is only 11 months. Moreover, it took six years to develop the final version of the film. The sketch of 1828 lacks some details that can be seen on the canvas located in the Russian Museum.
The central group was invariably transferred by Bryullov from sketch to sketch: this is a family with two small children fleeing the wrath of Vesuvius. Another detail that is present in all versions of the painting: a woman who died falling from a chariot. The child who was with her remained alive. He hugs his mother in despair, his eyes full of fear of the impending disaster. Apparently, the deceased was a noble Pompeian woman, as evidenced by the jewelry that scattered on the stone pavement from the impact. Many critics, including the painter’s contemporaries, saw in the death of this unfortunate death the entire ancient world.
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 occurrence nature. 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:
"huge black cloud was approaching quickly... long, fantastic tongues of flame, reminiscent of lightning flashes, only much larger, burst out of it every now and then...
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 poses of the victims’ bodies are not a consequence of prolonged agony, it is a spasm from heat shock that bent already dead limbs.”