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The Last Day of Pompeii is a large-format painting by the Russian
artist Karl Bryullov (1799–1852), completed in 1833. Stored in the
State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg (inv. J-5084). Size - 456.5 ×
651 cm. The painting depicts the events in Pompeii during the
catastrophic eruption of 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 got the idea to paint a
large canvas dedicated to the death of Pompeii. Anatoly Demidov
became the customer of the canvas. In general, work on the painting
took about six years - from 1827, when Bryullov created the first
sketches and sketches, until 1833. The final version of the large
multi-figure canvas was created in 1830-1833.
After
completing work on the painting, Karl Bryullov began showing 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 her."
From Rome, the canvas was transported to Milan, where it was
exhibited at the Milan Art Exhibition of 1833. Inspired by the
success of the painting in Italy, its owner Anatoly Demidov achieved
the inclusion of the creation in the exposition of the Paris Salon,
which opened in March 1834, where Bryullov's work received a large
gold medal.
In the summer of 1834, the painting "The Last Day
of Pompeii" was sent from France to St. Petersburg, where Demidov
presented it to Emperor Nicholas I. In August 1834, the painting was
placed in the Hermitage, and at the end of September of that year,
the canvas was moved to a separate hall of the Academy art for the
public to see. The picture was a huge success, the poet Alexander
Pushkin dedicated his poem “Vesuvius Zevus” to it, and the writer
Nikolai Gogol wrote an article in which he called “The Last Day of
Pompeii” one of the brightest phenomena of the 19th century and “the
bright resurrection of painting, which had been in some kind of
semi-lethargic state. In 1851, the painting entered the New
Hermitage, and in 1897 it was transferred to the collection of the
Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III (now the State Russian
Museum) being created at that time.
Art historian Alla
Vereshchagina noted that the plot of the canvas "The Last Day of
Pompeii" "was unheard of in the practice of classic historical
painting." The artist showed not the feat of one hero, but a natural
disaster that affected many people, thereby "for the first time, the
people entered Russian historical painting." According to art
historian Svetlana Stepanova, Bryullov's work became "not just one
of the latest achievements of the national school, but a phenomenon
that accelerated the evolution of art."
Previous events
In 1821, Karl Brullo graduated from the Academy of
Arts, receiving a large gold medal. Due to disagreements over who was to
be its leader, Brullo withdrew from continuing to work at the Academy.
The following year, the artist, along with his brother, the architect
Alexander Brullo, was invited to become pensioners of the Society for
the Encouragement of Artists for a period of four years. Having accepted
this offer, on August 16, 1822, the brothers left St. Petersburg and
went on a trip abroad - first to Germany, and then, in 1823, to Italy,
where they settled in Rome. Before leaving Russia, the surname of the
Brullo brothers was officially changed to Russian: Alexander I granted
them "v", and they became the Brullovs
At that time, there was a
very popular topic related to the excavations of the ancient cities -
Pompeii and Herculaneum, buried under a layer of ash as a result of the
eruption of Vesuvius, which occurred on August 24, 79 AD. According to
some reports, as a result of this eruption in Pompeii, about two
thousand people died. Although systematic excavations of Pompeii began
in 1748, they continued into the early 19th century. Works of art
related to this theme were created. For example, in 1822, the English
artist John Martin painted a large canvas, The Destruction of Pompeii
and Herculaneum (oil on canvas, 161.6 × 253.0 cm, now in the Tate
Gallery), and in 1824, the opera by the Italian composer Giovanni
Pacini, The Last day of Pompeii”, the scenery for which was created by
Alessandro Sanquirico.
The first of the brothers to excavate
Pompeii was Alexander Bryullov, who, apparently, told Karl a lot of
interesting things. Leaving Rome in early 1824, Alexander visited Sicily
and then settled in Naples, where he created a number of watercolor
portraits. Having learned that a well-preserved building of public baths
(terms) was discovered in Pompeii, Alexander received permission from
the Neapolitan king to make measurements and sketches of any
architectural structures that interested him, discovered during
excavations. Obtaining such permission was not an easy task, and in this
Alexander Bryullov was helped by Elizaveta Khitrovo, who was in Naples
at that time, the daughter of Mikhail Kutuzov and the widow of Nikolai
Khitrovo, on whose recommendation Alexander painted portraits of members
of the Neapolitan royal family; after that he succeeded in obtaining the
required permission. Taking advantage of this permission, in the same
1824, Alexander Bryullov visited Pompeii, which made a great impression
on him. In a letter to his parents dated May 8, 1824, Alexander wrote
that “the sight of these ruins involuntarily made me go back to a time
when these walls were still inhabited, when this forum, on which we
stood alone, and where the silence was interrupted by some kind of
lizard was filled with people. In another letter to his mother, dated
December 6, 1825, he described his impressions as follows: “I see fiery
rivers escaping from his [Vesuvius] mouth”, “a rain of sand, ash and
stones falls asleep magnificent Pompeii; Pompeii disappears before my
eyes." The measurements of the term were completed in 1826. The results
of the works of Alexander Bryullov on the study of the Pompeian baths
were published in the album Thermes de Pompéi, published in Paris in
1829. According to some assumptions, it was Alexander who could tell his
brother the plot for his future painting depicting the death of Pompeii.
Meanwhile, Karl Bryullov continued to work on genre scenes from
Italian life, creating such canvases as Italian Morning (1823), Italian
Noon (1827) and Girl Picking Grapes in the Outskirts of Naples (1827).
From 1825 to 1828 he worked on a copy of Raphael's The School of Athens
- this commission, which gave the artist important experience in working
on a multi-figured composition, was offered to him by the Russian
embassy in Rome, who promised to pay 10 thousand rubles for it. In 1825,
Karl Bryullov was going to visit Naples with his peer, the artist Fyodor
Bruni, but for some reason this trip did not take place.
In July
1827, Karl Bryullov finally set off on a journey from Rome to Naples.
The artist stayed in Naples and its environs from the beginning of July
to the end of August, devoting four days to inspecting the ruins of the
city of Pompeii, which made a deep impression on him. Among those who
could accompany Karl Bryullov on this trip, the names of Countess Maria
Razumovskaya, the future Senator Ippolit Podchassky (Podchatsky), as
well as Countess Yulia Samoilova and Anatoly Demidov are mentioned.
Robert Winspier, who was an official at the Russian embassy in Rome, on
July 6, 1827, informed Alexander Bryullov: “Your brother Karl was taken
to Naples by Countess Razumovskaya”; she then acted as a customer for a
sketch of a future painting. Bryullov met Countess Yulia Samoilova in
1827 in Rome, in the art salon of Princess Zinaida Volkonskaya;
Subsequently, Samoilov and Bryullov were connected by many years of
close friendship. Art critic Galina Leontyeva wrote that one of the
reasons for the artist's trip to Naples could be that Samoilova, whom he
met shortly before, was also going there.
The artist Mikhail
Zheleznov, in his later memoirs, wrote that Karl Bryullov told him that
in Naples he met with Anatoly Demidov, who took him to Pompeii.
According to Zheleznov, “during the inspection of this city, the idea
flashed in Bryullov’s head to paint a large picture and imagine the
death of Pompeii on it,” and the artist shared this thought with
Demidov, who “gave him his word to buy the picture he had conceived if
he wrote it.” Noting that "probably nothing would have come of this,"
Zheleznov further wrote that one lady, whose name remained unknown to
him, at a dinner at which Bryullov was also present, started a
conversation with Demidov about a trip to Pompeii and "managed to put
him in such a position that, to please his interlocutor, he ordered
Bryullov to write The Last Day of Pompeii. Comparing this information,
researchers of Bryullov's work conclude that this lady could be
Razumovskaya, who thereby, as it were, ceded her original order to
Demidov. Given that in 1828 (when the sketch for Razumovskaya was ready)
Demidov was only 15 years old, journalist Nikolai Prozhogin suggested
that the transfer of the order could have happened a little later. He
did not rule out that "the lady who pushed Demidov to order" could be
another countess - Yulia Samoilova
In general, work on the painting took about six years - from 1827,
when Karl Bryullov visited Pompeii and created the first sketches and
sketches, until 1833, when the large-format canvas was shown in Rome and
Milan. Art critics divide the period of creating a painting into two
stages. The first of these (1827-1830) includes preparatory work, which
included the creation of sketches and first sketches, and the second
(1830-1833) included the writing of a large multi-figured canvas.
Starting work on the painting, Karl Bryullov carefully studied the
historical documents related to the eruption of Vesuvius. In particular,
he read the testimonies of an eyewitness to the events, the ancient
Roman writer (later also a politician and lawyer) Pliny the Younger, who
wrote in his letters to the historian Tacitus: “It is already the first
hour of the day, and the light is wrong, as if sick. The houses around
are shaking; in an open narrow area it is very scary; this is where they
collapse. It was finally decided to leave the city; behind us is a crowd
of people who have lost their heads. <...> On the other hand, a terrible
black cloud, which was broken through in different places by running
fiery zigzags; it opened up in wide flaming stripes, similar to
lightning, but large. <...> Then the mother asks, persuades, orders me
to run away: for a young man it is possible; she, weighed down by years
and illnesses, will die in peace, knowing that she was not the cause of
my death.
Researchers of Bryullov’s work believe that the
earliest written mention of the artist about working on a new painting
dates back to March 1828: in a letter to his brother Fyodor, Karl
Bryullov wrote: “The sketch for the painting commissioned by Count
[frost] Razumovskaya has been put in order; the composition is as
follows: "The Last Day of Pompeii". In the same letter, the artist
reports that he chose the Street of the Tombs (Strada dei Sepolcri or
Via dei Sepolcri) as the scene of action, and the picture line runs from
the tomb of Scaurus (Sepolcro di Scauro) to the tomb of the son of the
priestess of Ceres. Further, the artist writes: “I took this scenery all
from nature, without retreating at all and without adding, standing with
my back to the city gates in order to see part of Vesuvius as the main
reason - without which would it look like a fire?” In the same letter,
Karl Bryullov describes in detail the groups of characters that he
intended to depict on the canvas. The Street of the Tombs was discovered
by archaeologists relatively recently, ten years before the arrival of
the Bryullovs in Italy. The place chosen by the artist was outside the
city limits - on the road leading to Naples. The tomb of Scaurus was
described in an 1817 book by archaeologist William Gell and architect
John Peter Gandhi. The leftmost part of the tablet on the monument was
broken off, and on it it was possible to read only part of the name of
the buried - ...icius Scaurus, as well as his position - duumvir of
justice. Gell and Gandhi suggested that his full name was Aricius
Scaurus, but later it turned out that Umbricius Scaurus was buried
there, and the tomb was erected by his father Aulus Scaurus.
In
the spring of 1828, Vesuvius began to show its volcanic activity again.
The artist Sylvester Shchedrin, who lived in Naples, wrote in a letter
to his brother Apollo dated May 6, 1828: “Finally, I managed to see and
make a sketch from nature: the eruption of Vesuvius.” The news of this
event quickly spread throughout Italy: in order to be witnesses of this
spectacle, many foreigners who were in Rome hurried to Naples. In the
same letter, Sylvester Shchedrin reported that Karl Bryullov was among
those who arrived in Naples, but, according to him, “as soon as Bryullov
came to me, then, like a mockery, the subsided volcano stopped smoking
altogether, and after spending four days, he returned back to Rome."
In 1828, Karl Bryullov completed work on a copy of Raphael's fresco
"The School of Athens", which was located in the Vatican Palace. The
experience of copying a multi-figure work turned out to be very valuable
for building the composition of the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii”.
In addition, another Vatican fresco, “The Fire in Borgo”, created by
Raphael and his students, had a significant influence on the artist. Art
historians believe that it was she who gave Bryullov the impetus to
create the first sketches and search for the main figures of the future
canvas. According to Bryullov himself, quoted in his memoirs by the
sculptor Nikolai Ramazanov, "it was necessary to chew through 400 years
of success in painting in order to create something worthy of the
current demanding age." In the same place, Ramazanov cited the following
statement by Bryullov: “I still had little talent to write Pompeii, I
needed to look closely at the great masters.” It was for the “advice”
with the old masters that Bryullov traveled to Venice and Bologna while
working on the painting - in Venice, the artist wanted to see the works
of Titian and Tintoretto again, and in Bologna he stayed for a while,
copying Raphael’s “Saint Cecilia”.
The delays that led to the
postponement of writing a large canvas, in the end led to the
dissatisfaction of the customer - Anatoly Demidov. In a letter to
Demidov dated September 4, 1830, Karl Bryullov wrote that he was given
information about the customer’s intention to break the contract related
to the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” if work on the canvas had not
yet begun. The artist informed Demidov that, due to a number of
unforeseen circumstances, he “did not have anything else on the canvas,
except for some outlines of figures; time was approaching the end of the
contract, and the end of the picture was too far from it. It is possible
that Bryullov somewhat downplayed the work he did, since at about the
same time he wrote to the sculptor Samuil Galberg that "half of the
picture of Pompeii for Demidov has already been painted", adding that
"this work has completely made me as diligent as you wished me
Samoilushka see". Be that as it may, in response to Bryullov's letter,
Demidov asked him to continue his work on the canvas, "setting for the
completion of the picture such a period in the new contract that
Bryullov himself recognizes as the best for himself." The artist Mikhail
Zheleznov, referring to the stories of Bryullov himself, wrote that “by
the end of 1830, in Bryullov’s Pompeii, all the figures were only put in
place and stained in two tones,” and “all this work was completed in two
weeks and had such an effect on the body Bryullov that his head, arms
and legs were trembling from a breakdown. Nikolai Ramazanov also noted
that while working on Pompeii, Bryullov "reached such exhaustion that he
was often carried out of the workshop."
In May 1831, the writer
Alexei Tolstoy visited the artist’s workshop, who wrote in his diary:
“We were at the painter Bryullov, who began to paint a picture for
Prince Demidov representing the last day of Pompeii.” In 1832, shortly
before his death, Bryullov's workshop was visited by the Scottish writer
Walter Scott, who spent several hours at the canvas. According to
Bryullov himself, the famous visitor “sat the whole morning in front of
the picture; understood the whole meaning, all the ins and outs. After
that, Walter Scott approached the artist, shook both his hands and said
that he expected to see a historical novel, but saw much more - a whole
epic. For Bryullov, the support of the writer was extremely important -
not only because the historical concept of his painting was recognized
by a historical novelist, but also because in this way he received
recognition as a writer of a romantic direction, who was able to
understand the deep meaning of the canvas.
Bryullov's work on The
Last Day of Pompeii deeply excited the artist Alexander Ivanov, the
future author of The Appearance of Christ to the People, who worked in
Rome since 1830. Ivanov wrote to Bryullov: “Curious to see your glorious
picture, I tried several times to come to your studio, but, finally,
despite all the convictions of people close to you to enter you without
permission, I decided to write this letter to you, in which now I ask
you yourself, will you allow me to see your works? Another painter,
Pyotr Basin, who saw “The Last Day of Pompeii” while still
underpainting, inspired Bryullov’s painting to create the painting
“Earthquake in Rocca di Papa near Rome”.
At the beginning of
1833, in a letter to the Society for the Encouragement of Artists,
Alexander Ivanov reported: "Brullo is finishing his painting, already
surprising Rome, and therefore Europe." Nevertheless, according to the
testimony of the artist Yakov Yanenko, who lived in Rome, in the spring
of 1833, Karl Bryullov's work on the canvas “The Last Day of Pompeii”
was still ongoing. In a letter to Alexander Bryullov dated April 13,
1833, Yanenko reported that his brother "works miracles", and his new
painting is a miracle. According to Yanenko, Karl Bryullov "has
glorified himself among the latest artists", everyone "for happiness
delivers to see the picture in his studio, although not yet completely
finished." Only by the autumn of 1833 the work was completed. The artist
Mikhail Zheleznov recalled that, finishing work on a large canvas,
Bryullov was dissatisfied with his work - "according to his calculation,
the figures had to come out of the canvas, but in the picture they did
not have the relief that he wanted to give them." After that, Bryullov
went to the workshop for two weeks, trying to understand what was the
inaccuracy of his calculation. In his story, Zheleznov cited the
following words of Bryullov: “Finally, it seemed to me that the light
from the lightning on the pavement was too weak. I illuminated the
stones near the feet of the warrior, and the warrior jumped out of the
picture. Then I lit up the entire pavement and saw that my picture was
finished.
When the work on the painting was finally completed, Karl Bryullov
began to show it in Rome in his studio on Via di San Claudio. The
customer of the painting - Anatoly Demidov - paid forty thousand francs
for the canvas. The popularity of the painting and its author grew
rapidly: in those days, instead of the usual greeting on the Roman
streets and in local cafes, one could hear: “Have you seen the painting“
The Last Day of Pompeii ”, which all Rome is talking about?” The writer
Nikolai Rozhalin, in a letter to the literary critic Stepan Shevyrev
dated August 25, 1833, reported: “In Rome, the most important incident
was the exhibition of Bryullov’s painting in his studio. The whole city
flocked to marvel at her. According to the story of the author of
"Pompeii", set out in the memoirs of his student Apollo Mokritsky, one
day the head of the Roman school of artists Vincenzo Camuccini came to
his studio, who, after standing for several minutes in front of the
picture, approached Bryullov, pressed him to himself and said : "Hug me,
Colossus!" The Danish artist and sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, who worked
in Rome, said that "none of the present-day artists can not only write
such a picture, but also cannot compose it." The artist Grigory Gagarin
wrote that "the success of the painting" The Fall of Pompeii "was, one
might say, the only one ever encountered in the artist's life."
According to Gagarin, “this great work aroused boundless enthusiasm in
Italy”: in different cities, solemn receptions were held for its author,
“poems were dedicated to him, he was carried around the streets with
music, flowers and torches.”
From Rome, the canvas was
transported to Milan, where it was successfully exhibited at the Milan
Art Exhibition of 1833, held in the Brera Palace. The participation of
the canvas in this exposition was ensured with the assistance of Yulia
Samoilova; reporting this fact, art critic Vladimir Stasov wrote that
"The Last Day of Pompeii" was placed at the exhibition "through the
efforts of Countess Samoilova, as can be seen from the letter of A. N.
Demidov to his brother in November 1833." The fame of the artist grew,
his painting was compared with the works of Raphael, Michelangelo and
Titian. Bryullov received a diploma of an honorary member of the Milan
Academy of Fine Arts, in a cover letter from which it was written: "By
adding you to itself as its honorary member, the Academy only increased
the brilliance of its glory." The academies of Bologna, Florence and
Parma also made Bryullov their honorary member.
Delighted by the
exceptional success of the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" in Italy,
its owner Anatoly Demidov really wanted to show the creation in France.
Thanks to his efforts, Bryullov's canvas was included in the exposition
of the Paris Salon, which opened in March 1834. Together with the "Last
Day of Pompeii" at the exhibition held in the Louvre, paintings by
famous French artists were exhibited: "The Martyrdom of Saint
Symphorion" by Ingres, "The Execution of Jane Gray" by Delaroche, "The
Battle of Mary with the Cimbri" by Deccan, "The Death of Poussin" by
Granet, "Arabic narrator" by Vernet, "Women of Algeria" by Delacroix and
others. The content of many of these paintings, like Bryullov's
canvases, was the theme of suffering. In general, the reception rendered
in Paris to the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" turned out to be less
enthusiastic than in Italy. In particular, the author of an article in
the magazine L'Artiste wrote that, in his opinion, Bryullov's canvas is
too large, and the painting itself was "20 years late", although it was
"conceived with great boldness of the imagination." A review published
in the newspaper Débats was even more negative: "There is no inspiration
in this work, it leaves the viewer cold and inattentive." One of the
reasons for such a cool reception, the critic of the Gazette de France
saw that "the beautiful picture of Mr. Bryullov arrived too soon in
Paris after the Cossacks were in it." Despite critical statements in the
press, Bryullov's work was highly appreciated by the Salon jury, which
awarded the artist a large gold medal. According to art critic Esfiri
Atsarkina, the painting by Karl Bryullov "was highly appreciated by the
jury because it struck with the grandeur of the event, the pathos of
feelings, the veracity of the situation," thus creating "the impression
of a genuine monumental epic."
In the summer of 1834, after the
end of the Paris exhibition, by order of Anatoly Demidov, the painting
“The Last Day of Pompeii” was packed in a huge box, loaded onto the ship
“Tsar Peter” and sent from France to St. Petersburg by sea. Together
with the canvas, which arrived in the Russian capital in July, a gilded
wooden frame ordered in Paris was also delivered there, and the owner of
the painting had to apply for a duty-free pass for the canvas, stretcher
and frame. Demidov himself, having “an irresistible desire to
immediately cast the picture to the highest view,” set off by land,
arriving in St. Petersburg before the canvas was delivered there.
Emperor Nicholas I favorably accepted Bryullov's painting, donated to
him by Demidov, and ordered that it be placed in the Hermitage, in the
former workshop of the English artist George Dow, where it was installed
in August. At the end of September of the same year, the canvas was
moved to a separate hall of the Academy of Arts for public viewing. In a
letter dated September 12 (24), 1834, Demidov informed Bryullov: “I most
submissively presented this glorious picture to the Emperor and received
a favorable acceptance. <...> It is a pity that you yourself were not
here when everyone admired the spectacle of your work and your
extraordinary genius. Demidov advised the artist, without fear of
anything, "not to lose the opportunity to come here", adding that "you
will win a lot through your visit and will not be kept here."
The
Academy of Arts informed Bryullov that, although he had earned the
position of a professor with his achievements, he was only awarded the
title of honorary free fellow. Together with this title, the artist
received only "the right to wear the uniform of a senior professor",
while remaining in the rank of titular adviser. The formal reason for
the denial of the title of professor was that Bryullov created The Last
Day of Pompeii by free choice, and not by an academic program. According
to the charter of the Academy, it was possible to raise to the rank of
professor "a pensioner who distinguished himself while he was abroad
upon his return to the fatherland and according to the program assigned
to him by the Council." On September 25, 1834, the Council of the
Academy tried to petition Nicholas I for the opportunity to confer on
Bryullov the title of professor on an exceptional basis, given that the
painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” “has undeniably the greatest virtues,
placing it among the most unusual artistic creations in Europe at the
present time” . On November 29 of the same year, the Ministry of the
Imperial Court informed the Academy that “the Sovereign Emperor did not
deign to express his highest permission for the elevation of the artist
Karl Bryullov to the rank of professor, but deigned to refuse that in
this case it is necessary to adhere to the charter.” At the same time,
“wishing to show a new sign of all-merciful attention to the excellent
talents of this artist,” the emperor granted him the Order of St. Anne,
3rd degree (the decree on awarding was dated November 27, 1834). In
addition, Nicholas I presented the artist with a diamond ring.
The artist's father, Pavel Brullo, did not live to see these events - he
died in January 1833. Although he never saw his son after a long
separation, he managed to reach rumors about the successful work of
Charles on a large canvas. On October 27, 1834, Karl's younger brother,
an aspiring artist, a student of the Academy, Ivan Brullo, who was about
20 years old, died of consumption. Shortly before his death, when the
painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" began to be exhibited in the academic
hall, Ivan's comrades brought him in their arms to the canvas of his
elder brother. According to one description, “he was carried through the
countless crowd that silently parted before them,” according to another,
“during the hours free from the public, he was brought in an armchair
from the academic infirmary and left alone in the hall,” after which he
sat in silence for a long time in front of the picture , for the first
time in a long time he didn’t cough at all and, closing and opening his
eyes, he seemed to absorb the picture into himself in order to take its
image with him.
Bryullov's canvas inspired poets and writers to
create literary works. Returning from the exhibition held in 1834, which
exhibited The Last Day of Pompeii, Alexander Pushkin sketched from
memory one of the groups of the canvas - an old man carried by his sons
- and wrote a poem: evolved like a battle flag. / The earth is worried -
from the staggering columns / Idols fall! The people, driven by fear, /
Under the stone rain, under the inflamed ashes, / In crowds, old and
young, run out of the city. Influenced by Bryullov's work, the English
writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote the novel The Last Days of Pompeii in
1834. The canvas, which the writer saw at an exhibition in Milan, became
one of the sources of his creative impulse, and Christian motives in the
novel may have been associated with the image of the priest depicted by
Bryullov.
Despite the success with which the canvas "The Last Day
of Pompeii" was accepted in Russia, Karl Bryullov was in no hurry to
return to his homeland. His return took place at the end of 1835: on
December 17, he arrived in Odessa from Constantinople on the ship
"Emperor Nicholas". As the Odessa Vestnik newspaper reported in its
issue of January 4, 1836, the inhabitants of the city “impatiently
expected to see Mr. Bryullov, whose name took such a brilliant place
among European artists and whom Russia lent to a powerful brush with the
marvelous creation of The Last Day of Pompeii.” The same issue of the
newspaper described a solemn dinner at which the Novorossiysk and
Bessarabian Governor-General Mikhail Vorontsov proclaimed a toast in
honor of the painter, ending it with the words: “We rejoice that we are
the first of our compatriots to assure you of the respect, of the
gratitude that every Russian person feels for the creator of The Last
Day of Pompeii.
In early January 1836 (according to other
sources, at the end of December 1835), Bryullov left Odessa for Moscow,
where he spent several months. At a dinner arranged in his honor by the
Moscow Art Class on January 28, 1836, the baritone singer Nikolai Lavrov
sang the song “Where the two-headed eagle soared”, containing the
following quatrain: “You brought peace trophies / With you to the
father’s canopy, - / And was the last day of Pompeii / For the Russian
brush, the first day! The composer Aleksey Verstovsky was the author of
the music, and the verses were attributed to Evgeny Baratynsky
(according to another version, the author of the words was Stepan
Shevyryov).
Bryullov stayed in Moscow until the end of May, after
which, accompanied by Mikhail Zagoskin, he went to St. Petersburg. On
the occasion of the arrival of the painter, a festive reception was
organized in the premises of the Academy of Arts, which took place on
June 11, 1836. The solemn event was described in detail in a letter from
the artist Andrei Ivanov (Bryullov's former mentor) to his son Alexander
dated August 8, 1836. According to Ivanov, a common table was laid in
front of the canvas “The Last Day of Pompeii”, and “a grate [was]
stretched one sazhen away from the painting so as not to come close to
it.” At the table, a toast was proposed to Karl Bryullov, "who glorified
the name of the Russian artist in Europe."
In 1851, the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii", which had been kept
until that time at the Academy of Arts, was moved to the newly built
building of the New Hermitage, where it was located in the hall of the
Russian school. During his stay in the Hermitage, the painting was often
copied by beginning artists. In 1897, it was transferred to the Russian
Museum of Emperor Alexander III, which was being created at that time
(now the State Russian Museum), where it is still located. After the
opening of the museum in 1898, it was exhibited in the Mikhailovsky
Palace, in the same room as another painting by Bryullov, The Siege of
Pskov. According to the memoirs of Alexandre Benois, in the same room
were "The Bronze Serpent" and "The Death of Camilla, Horace's Sister" by
Bruni, "Christian Martyrs in the Colosseum" by Flavitsky, "The
Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection" by
Ivanov, "The Last Supper" by Ge, and more two or three paintings by
Aivazovsky. Noting the fact that both in the Hermitage and after being
transferred to the Russian Museum, The Last Day of Pompeii was located
next to the Bronze Serpent, Alexander Benois wrote: Indeed, these giants
are paired works.
During the Great Patriotic War, part of the
paintings from the collections of the State Russian Museum was
evacuated. For such large-scale paintings as "The Last Day of Pompeii",
wooden shafts up to 10 m long and 60 to 120 cm in diameter were
specially made, on which they were wound. These shafts were made of
plywood on a wooden frame, which was covered with faux suede. On July 1,
1941, the museum exhibits, prepared for evacuation, were sent to the
Moscow railway station, then on a special train, accompanied by military
guards, to Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod), and then along the Volga and
Kama to Molotov (Perm). The paintings and other exhibits that arrived
there were placed in the Molotov Regional Art Gallery (now the Perm
State Art Gallery), located in the building of the Transfiguration
Cathedral. After the end of the war, the exhibits were returned to the
Russian Museum - boxes with large paintings arrived there on April 17,
1946.
In 1995, a large-scale restoration of the canvas was
carried out, during which duplication was carried out from the working
stretcher to a new canvas, the paint layer was strengthened, the old
varnish was regenerated and the losses were tinted, and dirt, edges and
patches were removed from the back of the painting. The restoration of
the painting took place in the Hall of Columns of the Benois Corps,
where the canvas was delivered on a shaft. The work on the painting “The
Last Day of Pompeii” was carried out by a group of the restoration
department of the State Russian Museum, which included Irina Kornyakova,
Alexander Minin and Evgeny Soldatenkov.
The canvas “The Last Day
of Pompeii” is exhibited in hall No. 14 of the Mikhailovsky Palace,
where there are other paintings by Karl Bryullov, as well as several
works by Ivan Aivazovsky (“The Ninth Wave”, “Wave” and others).
The painting depicts events in Pompeii during the catastrophic
eruption of Vesuvius. The scene chosen was the Street of the Tombs
(Strada dei Sepolcri or Via dei Sepolcri), which Bryullov visited in
1827. The sky is covered with dark thunderclouds, a blood-red glow
shines on the horizon, long and sharp lightning cuts through the
darkness of heaven. Buildings collapse from earthquakes.
People
are trying to escape from the raging elements, their cries, groans and
pleas are heard around. The tragedy exposes their feelings, shows the
essence of human souls. Many actors are the embodiment of generosity: in
the face of danger, they show sublime feelings of selflessness, courage
and love. Among them are sons carrying a weak father on their shoulders,
as well as a young man persuading his mother to be saved with him.
Mother and daughters are motionless: their faith in God is so great that
they put all their strength into prayer. Next to them is a Christian
priest, looking at what is happening without fear. Confusion and fear
are experienced by the fleeing family. The young groom, forgetting about
the danger, peers into the dead face of the bride. The central figure of
the canvas is a woman who fell from a chariot and crashed to death, next
to which is her child. There is a large group of people on the steps of
the tomb of Skaurus, among whom is the artist, in whose image Bryullov
portrayed himself. There are also negative characters - a pagan priest
who runs away from the elements in fear, and a thief who steals jewels
that have fallen to the ground.
Despite the fact that most of the
figures present on the canvas are depicted by Bryullov as half-naked,
drapery plays an important role in depicting their images. The
transparent clothes of the heroes of the picture 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 clothing indicates
the state of mind of the characters. Such use of draperies demonstrates
Bryullov's good acquaintance with the masterpieces of ancient art;
moreover, in a number of initial sketches for The Last Day of Pompeii, a
direct influence of the art of vase painting is visible. In subsequent
studies, the position of each figure and the nature of the draperies
used were specified. According to Era Kuznetsova, “only as a result of
hard work, the artist managed to convey the grandeur and beauty of
feelings that captivate us to this day.”
When constructing the
composition of the canvas, Bryullov used academic rules. The actors were
divided into separate groups, which were arranged in balance,
corresponding to each other in mass. Also, according to academic canons,
a strict alternation of plans was used: figures in the foreground,
having sculpturally 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, shaded
plan, the artist used dense tones, among which were 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
introduced a certain dynamic into the composition of the picture.
Bryullov's innovation was expressed in the courage with which he
undertook the most difficult task, which consisted in transmitting
double illumination - from the flame of a volcano and from a flash of
lightning.
In the composition of the picture, the artist largely
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 picture contains features of
both the old direction - classicism, and the new - romanticism.
A young woman with a child who fell from a chariot is the most
central group in the final version of the canvas. For a long time,
Bryullov tried to find a variant of the location of this group in the
composition that suited him. In early versions, the artist depicted a
Pompeian thief bending over the body of a dead woman, stealing her
jewelry. Then the Pompeian was replaced by a girl, but in the final
version, only the image of a dead mother with a child remained. 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, devoid of feelings; the baby on her chest, no longer supported by
the mother's hand, grasping her clothes, calmly looks at the living
scene of death; Behind this woman lies a broken wheel from the chariot
from which this woman fell. According to some reports, when writing a
lying woman, Bryullov used the image of Countess Yulia Samoilova.
According to art historian Galina Leontyeva, the crashed woman
“symbolizes the beautiful, but doomed by history itself to death,
ancient world”; at the same time, a child reaching out to a dead mother
is "perceived as an allegory of a new world, which should arise on the
ruins of the former, without breaking, however, living ties with the
past." Art critic 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 picture. According to Vereshchagina, “no consistent classicist would
have allowed himself to solve the center of the picture in this way”:
the group, which includes a dead mother and a living child,
“romantically boldly, in a sharp contrast between life and death,
reveals the artist’s intention.”
The group of Pliny with his mother was introduced by the artist under
the impression of eyewitness accounts of the eruption of Vesuvius -
Pliny the Younger, who described the events in a letter to the historian
Tacitus. Despite the fact that Pliny was in Miseni, located a few tens
of kilometers from Pompeii, in order to enhance the dramatic effect,
Bryullov allowed himself to deviate from the accuracy of historical
facts. Describing this group in a letter to his brother Theodore, the
artist wrote: “... I introduce an incident that happened to Pliny
himself: his mother, burdened with years, not being able to escape, begs
her son to save himself, but the son uses the request and all the
strength to take her with you. This incident, told by Pliny himself in a
letter to Tacitus, happened in Capo di Miseno, but an artist who places
Pompeii and Vesuvius, five miles away from it, on a fathom canvas, can
drag an example of childish and maternal love because of 80 miles, so by
the way, here its opposite to other groups.
Pliny's group with
his mother was one of the earliest to appear in the artist's working
albums. In the early versions of the composition, this group was located
to the left than in the final version of the picture - as he worked on
the canvas, Bryullov gradually moved it from left to right. On the
canvas, the artist depicted how the young Pliny persuades his exhausted
mother to try to escape with him, and if he is destined to die, then die
together. On the one hand, there is a son risking his life, who cannot
leave his mother to perish, and on the other, a mother who begs her son
to save at least his own life. Unable to fully reflect the emotions and
play of feelings on the faces of Pliny and his mother, the artist was
able to convey the dramatic dialogue between them using gestures. The
movement of the hands of an elderly mother, moving away from her son
embracing her, is a vivid expression of maternal sacrifice.
According to the art critic Olga Lyaskovskaya, the heads of Pliny and
his mother are painted from life and are images of modern Italians for
Bryullov, while the image of the mother is "a characteristic, energetic
type of an elderly Italian woman." According to Galina Leontieva,
Pliny's group with his mother is "the most dramatic and expressive scene
of the entire canvas."
A group of sons - a warrior and a young man carrying an old father -
appeared quite early in Bryullov's working albums. Initially, this group
looked overly stretched, so in the final decision the artist changed the
principle of its construction. Bryullov himself described this group in
a letter to his brother Fyodor: “Between this group [Pliny with his
mother] and the priest, two young Pompeians are visible, carrying their
sick old father on their shoulders; a faithful dog hides between the
legs of the children. According to Olga Lyaskovskaya, when writing his
sons and father, Bryullov used the principle of building a similar group
used in Tintoretto's painting "The Abduction of the Body of St. Mark
from Alexandria".
The sons carry their weak father on their
shoulders, "forgetting about themselves, living only in fear for his
life." Although a shadow falls on the old man's head, the horror that
gripped him is very expressively indicated by the gesture of a raised
hand with spread fingers, which makes up for the lack of facial
expressions on his face. The sons carrying their father are in rapid
motion - this is evidenced by the fact that the legs of one of them are
widely spaced, as if running. Nevertheless, according to the art critic
Magdalina Rakova, on the canvas this group looks frozen and motionless.
The difference between the images of the sons emphasizes Bryullov's
desire to endow each of the characters in the canvas with individuality.
In particular, this can be seen in the images of their legs: “muscular,
hard-worn in campaigns legs of a broad-footed warrior, small-stepping
and softly outlined - young men.” According to Olga Lyaskovskaya, the
head of the youngest of the sons has an exceptional life reality, “it is
drawn in unusual relief almost in the center of the picture and attracts
the viewer with its soft, lively black eyes.”
The group of a woman with two daughters, along with Pliny and his
mother, was one of the first to appear in Bryullov's working albums. In
the early versions of the composition, the mother, who raised her hand
to the sky, and her daughters were in the background and were shown from
the back. Realizing that this group could play a significant role in
revealing the idea, the artist later brought it to the fore, making
changes to the gestures and postures of the mother and her daughters.
The artist described this group in a letter to his brother Fyodor: “On
the right side I place groups of mothers with two daughters on their
knees (these skeletons were found in this position).”
Art critic
Magdalina Rakova wrote that in the group of mother and daughters there
is both simplicity of plastic construction and clarity of psychological
conflict. According to her, this group is built as "a typical isosceles
triangle of classicist composition, but solved extremely skillfully,
without exposing the 'edges' of the structure." The unifying principle
of this group, according to Rakova, is the wide and smooth gesture of
the mother, embracing her daughters with her strong arms. Closing this
movement with a large and flexible left hand emphasizes its protective
meaning. Rakova also noted the similarity of the images of this group
with the ancient motif of the death of Niobid - the children of Niobe,
who were killed by the ancient Greek gods Apollo and Artemis (perhaps
Bryullov saw a sculptural composition dedicated to this plot in the
Uffizi Gallery in Florence).
Olga Lyaskovskaya noted that the
appearance of her mother strongly resembles Countess Yulia Samoilova,
whose image, apparently, inspired Bryullov when writing a number of
female figures. Galina Leontyeva believes that the features of Yulia
Samoilova are visible not only in the appearance of the mother, but also
in the image of her eldest daughter. There are suggestions that in the
images of daughters, Bryullov could portray the heroines of the painting
"The Horsewoman" (1832) - the pupils of Countess Samoilova Giovannina
and Amazilia.
The group of the groom with the lifeless bride in his arms is one of
the latest figures introduced by Bryullov into the composition. The
group of newlyweds, located at the right edge of the canvas, is one of
the saddest scenes in the picture. She shows that there are moments in
life when “grief turns out to be stronger than the fear of death”: not
noticing the roar and lightning, not hearing the cries of other people,
having abandoned the movements of the crowd, the young groom stares
intently into the dead white face of his dead bride, flowers in wedding
wreath which has not yet had time to wither.
Art historian Olga
Lyaskovskaya noted that, compared to most other characters, whose image
is anatomically correct, the figure of the newlywed was given too bold a
perspective.
In a letter to his brother Fyodor, the artist described the family
group located near the steps of the tomb of Skavra as follows: father."
A group of a Pompeian trying to cover his family with a cloak appeared
in Bryullov's albums at a relatively early stage of work on the picture.
This group almost immediately found its place in the composition, so the
artist did not have to move it. In it, “both physical movements and
impulses of frightened, trembling souls are expressed with equal force.”
The man's mouth is open, his face expresses horror. The prototype of the
pompeian in the family group was the Italian weight thrower and pallona
player Domenico Marini, whose portrait Bryullov painted in 1829 (oil on
canvas, 62 × 50 cm, now in the Novgorod Museum-Reserve).
Magdalina Rakova noted that the figure of the Pompeian, who, according
to the artist's intention, was supposed to be in rapid motion, on the
canvas looks as if petrified in a rather unstable position. He is
depicted standing on one right leg, as if continuing his run, having
just stepped over a fallen woman. However, according to Rakova, his body
seems to be motionless, like the figures of all the other members of his
family.
In a letter to his brother Fyodor, Karl Bryullov described the image
of the priest as follows: “On the right side of the fallen woman, the
priest, grabbing the altar and sacrificial instruments, with his head
covered, runs in a disorderly direction ...”. In early sketches,
Bryullov placed the priest's figure either on the steps of the stairs to
the left or on the street corner on the right side of the composition.
In later sketches, the image of the priest was pushed into the
background by the artist. Thus, his figure lost the main role that she
played in the early versions of the composition.
The Christian
priest is one of the latest figures introduced by Bryullov into the
composition. Towering over his mother with two daughters, he is in the
very left part of the picture, so that part of his figure is cut off by
the edge of the canvas. In his appearance, one can feel the swiftness
and inertia of the movement that brought him into the thick of the
events taking place on the Street of the Tombs. The priest is “one of
the few characters in the picture who fearlessly turned his open face
towards lightning, towards disaster,” as if he was “ready to engage in
single combat with the raging elements.”
According to Alexei
Savinov, the images of a pagan priest and a Christian priest symbolized
the decline of the ancient world and the advent of new eras: “... it is
no coincidence that in Pompeii the priest runs in embarrassment,
covering his head, the representative of the new Christian era (he is
with a torch and a censer in his hands ) looks with satisfaction at the
falling statues of pagan deities.
Karl Bryullov described this part of the composition in a letter to
his brother Fyodor: “...behind this group [mothers and daughters] one
can see a group crowding on the stairs leading to Sepulcro Scauro,
covering their heads with stools, vases (the things they save are all
taken by me from the museum) ". In the crowd, located on the steps of
the tomb of Skavra, there is an oncoming movement. Those Pompeians who
tried to escape under the roof of the tomb are trying to get back,
frightened by the sight of how the buildings on the opposite side of the
street are collapsing from the blows of the elements. Towards them are
moving people distraught with fear, who, on the contrary, are trying to
find salvation inside the tomb. On the upper platform - where these
oncoming streams should collide with each other - there is "a dense
figure of a bent greed, picking up gold from the steps." Even in such a
terrible hour, his main goal is profit, but his figure is the only one
in the whole picture that personifies the baseness of motives. On the
right side of the group, on the steps, where traffic has almost stalled,
are the artist and two young women on either side of him. One of them
clutches a vessel in her hands, anxiously looking into the bloody
reflections in the sky, and the other, in a fluttering bright blue
cloak, took aside her raised hand, with which she held the jug standing
on her head.
According to art historian Galina Leontyeva, people
on the steps of the tomb of Skavra cannot be divided, they all make up
one common group with a single movement, but at the same time, “each one
is in it on his own.” An athletic Pompeian rises up the stairs, lifting
a heavy bench over his head, with which he tries to protect himself from
flying stones. The figure of a man leaned halfway out of the doorway,
apparently one of the first to reach the doors, and then, in fright,
moved in the opposite direction. And above them are three beautiful
faces, two young women and an artist. A woman with a jug on her head is
the only character in the canvas who looks directly at the viewer. Her
mournful and penetrating gaze testifies that “her fate, the fate of the
city, all the people around, suddenly became completely clear to her,
she lowers her hands, the vessel falls.” The artist, boldly raising his
eyes, looks at the heavenly fire: "... at a fateful moment, he did not
leave what is dearest to him - a box with brushes and paints." The
artist and a young woman with a jug on her head are among the latest
figures introduced by Bryullov into the composition. Art critic Olga
Lyaskovskaya suggested that the famous model Vittoria Caldoni, who later
became the wife of the artist Grigory Lapchenko, could serve as a model
for a girl with a jug. At the same time, Galina Leontyeva believes that
the features of Yulia Samoilova are visible in the image of a girl with
a jug.
Magdalina Rakova noted that the artist's image is close to
Bryullov's self-portrait dated 1833 from the Russian Museum, not only
due to external similarities, but also in terms of the nature of the
interpretation of the image. According to Rakova, both in the
self-portrait and in The Last Day of Pompeii, Bryullov “depicts himself
in a similar state of mind: in both cases we see a person whose mental
strength is in tragic tension, expressed even by the play of the same
muscles faces, moreover, equally emphasized in both cases by harsh
lighting. According to art historian Marina Shumova, the introduction of
Bryullov's self-portrait into the composition is "a completely romantic
detail", since "the artist becomes an accomplice to the depicted event,
everything that happens in the picture, as it were, passes through the
prism of his perception and experience."
The rider on a rearing horse, depicted on the right side of the
canvas, is one of the latest figures introduced by Bryullov. Apparently,
this group was added by the artist to balance the composition of the
middle plan. In the horseman's hand thrown up sharply upwards,
"unbridled feelings and passions" are read. Thus, even to a greater
extent than other actors, he is in inner unity with the raging elements.
In the center of the composition, above the crashed woman, an
overturned chariot is visible, from which she fell. The charioteer, who
has not let go of the reins, is dragged at great speed along the stone
pavement by mad horses.
The State Russian Museum (RMM) stores Bryullov's album with the first
sketches for The Last Day of Pompeii, scribbled by the artist "without
any order." However, along with the sketches, these sketches provide
additional information about Bryullov's work on the composition of the
canvas, as well as on the arrangement of individual groups. Another
album with the artist's sketches for the painting is in the collection
of the State Tretyakov Gallery (TG). Three graphic sketches dated
1828-1830 are also stored there. Among them is one of the first sketches
for the canvas (paper, bistre, pen, 15.5 × 18.9 cm, Inv. 11733, came
from the collection of I. S. Ostroukhov). The second drawing from the
collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery is described as a
sketch-variant (paper, ink, brush, pen, 17.5 × 24.4 cm, Inv. 15734, also
from Ostroukhov's collection). The third drawing from the State
Tretyakov Gallery, also described as a draft version, was acquired by P.
M. Tretyakov no later than 1893 (paper on cardboard, sepia, ink, pen,
graphite pencil, 51 × 71.9 cm, Inv. 3175). In addition, one graphic
sketch, executed in sepia, is kept in the collection of the State
Russian Museum, and another sketch is in the collection of the Murom
Historical and Art Museum (paper, pencil, 65.5 × 89 cm, inv.
M-7267.G-176 )
One of the most famous pictorial sketches created
by Bryullov while working on The Last Day of Pompeii is kept in the
State Russian Museum (paper on cardboard, oil, 58 × 81 cm, inv. J-5081).
This sketch is dated 1828, and, apparently, it was he who was mentioned
by Karl Bryullov in a letter to his brother Fyodor as "a sketch for a
painting commissioned by Countess Razumovskaya." In addition, the
Russian Museum has another pictorial sketch (“one of the early versions
of the development of the theme”), dating from the late 1820s (paper on
cardboard, oil, 17.5 × 19.7 cm, inv. J-7867, received in 1963 from E. M.
Shapiro), as well as the sketch “Head of the model” (paper on canvas,
oil, 17.2 × 17.2 cm, inv. Zh-11809, received in 1992 from V.P. Tarasov)
- perhaps one of the few surviving pictorial sketches for the painting.
The collection of the Tretyakov Gallery contains a sketch made in oil
and Italian pencil on canvas, divided into squares (58 × 76 cm,
1827-1828, inv. Zh-11015, received in 1929 from the Ostroukhov Museum).
Another sketch is kept in the collection of the Perm State Art Gallery
(about 1827-1828, until 1986 - in a private collection)
In a
monograph on Bryullov's work, published in 1940, art critic Olga
Lyaskovskaya attempted to chronologically arrange eight graphic and
pictorial sketches created by Bryullov while working on the painting
"The Last Day of Pompeii". In her opinion, the sketches should be
arranged in the following order: 1) 2nd graphic sketch from the State
Tretyakov Gallery; 2) graphic sketch from the timing; 3) a pictorial
sketch from the UGSF (at the time of writing the book, the location of
this sketch was unknown); 4) 1st graphic sketch from the State Tretyakov
Gallery; 5) a picturesque sketch from the State Tretyakov Gallery; 6)
graphic sketch from MIHM; 7) 3rd graphic sketch from the State Tretyakov
Gallery; 8) a picturesque sketch from the timing.
From the
painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" Bryullov made two author's
repetitions, executed in watercolor[86]. One of them is kept in the
Tretyakov Gallery (cardboard, watercolor, circa 1834, 17.1 × 24.5 cm,
Inv. 3176). Anatoly Demidov, who owned this copy, presented it to a
certain Boveli in 1834. Subsequently, it was in the collection of Count
P. K. Ferzen, and in 1905 it was acquired by the Council of the
Tretyakov Gallery from the St. Petersburg antiquary A. T. Felten.
Bryullov made a second copy for the Viceroy of the Lombardo-Venetian
Kingdom, Rainer Joseph of Austria - this is known from the artist’s
letter stored in the manuscript department of the Russian Museum, in
which he ordered the transfer of 1350 Austrian liras, describing them as
“a reward that His Highness the Duke Ranieri and the Viceroy of Lombard
of the Kingdom of Venice deigned to appoint me to a watercolor drawing,
executed by me in his album, depicting my large painting “The Last Day
of Pompeii”.
19th century
The writer Nikolai Gogol, in his article "The Last
Day of Pompeii", written in August 1834 and published in January 1835 in
the collection "Arabesques", called the painting one of the brightest
phenomena of the 19th century and "a bright resurrection of painting,
which had been in some semi-lethargic state for a long time." state",
and Bryullov himself - "the first of the painters, whose plastic reached
the highest perfection". Comparing Bryullov with his famous
predecessors, Gogol wrote: “Despite the horror of the general event and
his position, his figures do not contain that wild, shuddering horror
that the harsh creatures of Mikel-Angela breathe. He also does not have
that high predominance of heavenly incomprehensible and subtle feelings
with which Raphael is completely filled. His figures are beautiful
despite the horror of their situation. They drown it out with their
beauty." It was in this that Gogol saw the highest perfection of the
artist - in the fact that in the catastrophe itself he managed to show
all the beauty of man and "all the supreme grace of his nature."
The Italian writer Francesco Ambrosoli, who published a brochure in 1833
with a detailed description of the canvas “The Last Day of Pompeii,”
wrote that Bryullov’s painting “deserved general astonishment” in Rome
and Milan, and “it alone would be sufficient to make the glory of the
great painter ". According to Ambrosoli, comparing Bryullov's talent
with the skill of his most famous Italian predecessors is quite
acceptable: in his canvas one can see both the monumentality of
Michelangelo and the grace of Guido, "sometimes the artist resembles
Raphael, sometimes it seems that Titian has come to life in him again."
At the same time, according to Ambrosoli, in Bryullov’s work “all
objects are so decently arranged and connected with such confidence in
art, with such freshness and so far from any slavish imitation that
everyone is involuntarily forced to say: here is an artist who
completely masters his art! »
The artist Fyodor Bruni, who worked
in those years on the monumental painting "The Copper Serpent",
described in detail the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" in a letter
to the sculptor Samuil Galberg dated March 17, 1834. Paying tribute to
his competitor, he wrote that Bryullov's new painting is "very
beautiful, especially for the public." Describing the effects of a
volcanic eruption and an earthquake, as well as the figures of people
running in different directions, Bruni reported that the scene depicted
by Bryullov is "very complex and makes a great impression." Bruni also
remarked on "the dreadful effect produced by the lightning, which
deigned to stand still in mid-air to light up an artistically admirable
scene." In the same letter, noting the insufficient psychological
diversity of the characters in Bryullov's canvas, Bruni wrote: "I may be
a little picky, but I like to see deep feelings in the picture."
Publicist and writer Alexander Herzen repeatedly wrote about the
painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" in his letters, diaries and other
works. In particular, in the essay “The New Phase of Russian Literature”
(another translation is “The New Phase in Russian Literature”),
published in 1864 in the newspaper La Cloche, he described his
impressions of Bryullov’s canvas as follows: “In the huge picture you
see groups of frightened, dumbfounded people; they are trying to save
themselves; they perish in the midst of an earthquake, a volcanic
eruption, a real cataclysm; they fall under the blows of a wild, stupid,
wrong force, any resistance from which would be useless. Such is the
inspiration gleaned from the Petersburg atmosphere.” Herzen compared the
inevitable forces of nature with despotic Russian power; thus, he saw in
the picture allegory and metaphor, which, perhaps, were not included in
the conscious goals of the artist.
XX and XXI centuries
The
artist and critic Alexander Benois, in his book The History of Russian
Painting in the 19th Century, the first edition of which was published
in 1902, wrote that, in his opinion, the painting The Last Day of
Pompeii was “such fireworks, such a crackling opera finale , huge,
excellently executed, with very beautiful, gloriously grouped extras ",
which" was supposed to produce a stunning effect. At the same time,
Benois believed that both the public and the artists were "sick" from
this picture with "the most frenzied enthusiasm" because it attracts
everyone with its "spectacular" and "inflated, but sustained pathos." At
the same time, Benois praised individual groups of actors depicted in
the picture; in particular, he wrote this about people crowding on the
stairs: “A group of fugitives, rushing into a collapsing house and
retreating from it in horror, is superbly assembled. It is impossible to
convey in words the rhythm of these human figures crumpled into one
knot, over which the face of the artist himself shines with clear <...>
calmness, directing his inquisitive gaze to the angry heavens.
The American art critic George Hurd Hamilton, in his monograph on the
art and architecture of Russia, wrote that the success that accompanied
the canvas “The Last Day of Pompeii” could be explained by the fact that
any viewer could find something to their taste in it. According to
Hamilton, Bryullov's painting was a melodramatic, somewhat pathological
interpretation of a classic theme with many realistic details that
appealed to different sides of thinking; even in our time, they continue
to amaze with the power of their impact. Hamilton noted that from an
artistic point of view, Bryullov's painting was impeccable, traces of
the influence of Raphael, Poussin and David were skillfully mixed with
Vernet's stage effects, and the canvas surpassed the works of the late
representatives of the Bologna school with its fiery brightness of
colors.
According to art historian Alexei Savinov, the “big
theme” of the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” was the change of eras
caused by a catastrophe that interrupted the measured course of life.
Savinov noted that Bryullov, having shown the intrusion of elemental
forces into the development of human society, "outlined a new
understanding of history for his era," which was made not by monarchs or
generals, but by elemental forces that fell upon the suffering and
trying to save people - the artist tried to depict the people. Savinov
wrote that Bryullov strove so hard “to be truthful and accurate in
depicting antiquity dear to him, embodied in beautiful people, in the
streets and tombs of Pompeii, that we still believe him, no matter how
conventional his views on antiquity suffer, his artistic means and
methods." According to Savinov, "Bryullov had the rare fate of an
innovator, accepted on the very first day, as soon as his work became
known."
Art critic Alla Vereshchagina noted that the plot chosen
by Bryullov for the canvas “The Last Day of Pompeii” “was unheard of in
the practice of classic historical painting”: the artist did not show
the feat of one hero performed in splendid isolation or surrounded by
spectators admiring his actions, but a natural disaster , which affected
many people at the same time - thereby "for the first time, the people
entered Russian historical painting." Despite the fact that this people
was shown by Bryullov in a rather idealized and abstract way, without
any social characteristics, Vereshchagina wrote that one cannot but
appreciate the significance of the canvas made by the author: “...
before him, the voice of a soloist was heard in Russian historical
painting, Bryullov made the choir sound ". According to Vereshchagina,
with his work, the artist "brought historical painting closer to the
modern level of knowledge and understanding of the past"; To a large
extent, this was facilitated by Bryullov's desire for historical
fidelity in the depiction of architecture, clothing, as well as the
national image of the heroes of the picture.
Art historian
Svetlana Stepanova noted that the canvas “The Last Day of Pompeii”,
which arrived in Russia in 1834, was “not just one of the next
achievements of the national school, but a phenomenon that accelerated
the evolution of art.” Located first in the Academy of Arts, and then,
from 1851, in the Hermitage, this canvas was available as a model for a
new generation of artists. According to Stepanova, in this work,
Bryullov needed a certain authorial courage in order to overcome the
boundaries of strict academicism "by setting and solving the most
complex compositional, light and plastic problems." Subsequently, the
dynamism and light-spatial effects of Bryullov's compositional solutions
were picked up by his students and followers.