Karl Bryullov, ‘Last Day of Pompeii’, (Details) || via joytri AOG: Fall Asleep to a Prayer That Breaks Every Chain The Last Day of Pompeii is a large history painting by Karl Bryullov produced in 1830–1833 on the subject of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. It is notable for its positioning between Neoclassicism, the predominant style in Russia at the time, and Romanticism as increasingly practised in France. The painting captures sheer panic of citizens escaping the doomed city beneath a sky filled with volcanic ash. Bryullov masterfully divided crowd into small, emotional vignettes. A family clutches each other in a desperate embrace, a priest tries to calm the fear around him, and a mother lies dead in the street while her surviving children weep over her. [1,2,3,4] Bryullov visited archaeological ruins of Pompeii in 1828 & studied historical letters written by the eyewitness Pliny the Younger. He wanted every face and gesture to feel perfectly real. Work was a massive success. It made Bryullov 1st Russian artist to earn global fame. [1,2,3] The painting also served as the main inspiration for the famous 1834 novel The Last Days of Pompeii by British author Edward Bulwer-Lytton. [1, 2]
