WWW.SPELEONICS.COM The Last Day of Pompeii is a large history painting by Karl Bryullov. The Last Day of Pompeii is a large-format painting by the Russian artist Karl Bryullov (1799–1852), completed in 1833. It is kept in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg (inv. Zh-5084). It measures 456.5 × 651 cm. The painting depicts events in Pompeii during the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which occurred in 79 AD. Karl Bryullov visited the excavations of Pompeii in the summer of 1827 during his trip to Naples, where he came up with the idea of painting a large canvas dedicated to the death of Pompeii. The customer of the canvas was Anatoly Demidov. In general, the work on the painting took about six years - from 1827, when Bryullov created the first sketches and sketches, to 1833. The final version of the large multi-figure canvas was created in 1830–1833. After completing the painting, Karl Bryullov began to show it in his studio in Rome. The popularity of The Last Day of Pompeii and its author grew rapidly: the writer Nikolai Rozhalin reported that in Rome "the most important event was the exhibition of Bryullov's painting in his studio", "the whole city flocked to marvel at it". From Rome, the canvas was transported to Milan, where it was exhibited at the Milan Art Exhibition of 1833. Inspired by the painting's success in Italy, its owner, Anatoly Demidov, had it included in the Paris Salon, which opened in March 1834, where Bryullov's work received a large gold medal. Description of the painting Plot and composition The painting depicts the events in Pompeii during the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The setting is Strada dei Sepolcri or Via dei Sepolcri, which Bryullov visited in 1827. The sky is covered with dark storm clouds, a blood-red glow shines on the horizon, and long and sharp lightning pierces through the sky darkness. Buildings collapse from tremors. People are trying to escape from the raging elements, their screams, moans and pleas can be heard around. Tragedy exposes their feelings, shows the essence of human souls. Many of the characters are the embodiment of generosity: in the face of danger, they display sublime feelings of selflessness, courage, and love. Among them are sons carrying a frail father on their shoulders, as well as a young man persuading his mother to save herself with him. Mother and daughters are immobile: their faith in God is so great that they put all their energy into prayer. Next to them is a Christian priest who looks on without fear. Confusion and fear are experienced by a fleeing family. The young groom, oblivious to the danger, peers into the bride's dead face. The central figure of the canvas is a woman who fell from a chariot and fell to her death, next to her is her child. There is a large group of people on the steps of the tomb of Scaurus, among whom there is an artist, in whose image Bryullov depicted himself. There are also negative characters – a pagan priest who runs away from the elements in fear, and a thief who steals jewelry that has fallen to the ground. Despite the fact that most of the figures present on the canvas are depicted by Bryullov half-naked, drapery plays an important role in the depiction of their images. The transparent clothes of the heroes of the painting fall in "flowing folds", which make it possible to clearly outline the contours of their figures; At the same time, the nature of the folds of the clothes testifies to the state of mind of the characters. Such use of draperies demonstrates Bryullov's good familiarity with the masterpieces of ancient art; moreover, a number of the initial sketches for The Last Day of Pompeii show the direct influence of the art of vase painting. In subsequent studies, the position of each figure and the nature of the draperies used were specified. According to Era Kuznetsova, "it was only as a result of hard work that the artist was able to convey the greatness and beauty of feelings that captivate us to this day." Collapsing building on the background of lightning and glow from a volcanic eruption (detail of the painting)/ When building the composition of the canvas, Bryullov used academic rules. The characters were divided into separate groups, which were arranged in equilibrium, corresponding to each other in mass. Also, according to academic canons, a strict alternation of planes was used: the figures in the foreground, having sculptural and convex forms, were contrasted with the silhouette of the figures depicted in the background. In accordance with this division, the coloristic scheme was also decided. For the first, shadowed plan, the artist used dense tones, including red, blue, fiery orange, brown, and others. For the second, silhouette plan, faded halftones were used, among which there were pale blue, light green and golden-yellow. The juxtaposition of shaded and illuminated places brought a certain dynamic to the composition of the painting. Bryullov's innovation was expressed in the courage with which he undertook the most difficult task, which consisted in the transmission of double illumination, from the flame of a volcano and from a flash of lightning. In the composition of the painting, the artist in many respects departs from the traditions and norms of classicism: the action develops not only in the foreground, but also goes deep into the picture; Not all groups of actors fit into the triangle. The painting has features of both the old trend (classicism) and the new one (romanticism) Dramatis personae Woman with child falling from chariot. A young woman with a child falling from her chariot is the most central group in the final version of the painting. For a long time, Bryullov tried to find a suitable option for the arrangement of this group in the composition. In early versions, the artist depicted a Pompeian thief bending over the body of a dead woman, stealing her jewelry. The Pompeian was then replaced by a girl, but only the image of a dead mother with her child remained in the final version. The artist himself described this group in a letter to his brother Fyodor written in March 1828: "... in the middle of the picture is a fallen woman, unconscious; the infant on her breast, no longer supported by her mother's hand, grasping at her garment, calmly gazes upon the living scene of death; Behind this woman lies the broken wheel of the chariot from which the woman fell."According to some sources, Bryullov used the image of Countess Yulia Samoylova when painting the reclining woman. According to art historian Galina Leontyeva, the broken woman "symbolizes the beautiful ancient world, but doomed to death by history itself"; At the same time, the child reaching out to his dead mother "is perceived as an allegory of a new world, which must arise on the ruins of the old, without, however, severing the living ties with the past." Art historian Alla Vereshchagina wrote that the baby with golden curls occupies the compositional center of the canvas, and his mother, in a bright yellow robe with a blue scarf, is the coloristic center of the painting. In Vereshchagina's opinion, "no consistent classicist would have dared to decide the center of the painting in such a way": the group, which includes a dead mother and a living child, "romantically boldly, in a sharp contrast of life and death, reveals the artist's intention"