The Last Day of Pompeii

The Last Day of Pompeii, completed in 1833, is the defining masterwork of Russian Romantic painting and one of the most celebrated history paintings of the nineteenth century. The canvas depicts the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD and the catastrophic destruction of the Roman city of Pompeii, a subject Bryullov first encountered on a visit to the excavation site around 1827. The painting took six years to complete and became a sensation when exhibited in Rome and Paris before being transported to St. Petersburg, where it was received as a national triumph. Emperor Nicholas I personally presented it to Demidov, its patron, who had commissioned it. The painting's colossal scale — over four meters high — and its command of light, mass, and compositional complexity were unprecedented in Russian art. Writers including Pushkin and Gogol responded to the canvas with wonder. It established Bryullov as the greatest Russian painter of his generation and transformed European perceptions of Russian cultural capability.

The canvas is organized as a series of interlocking dramatic groups spread across a wide horizontal field, unified by the lurid volcanic light competing with lightning flashes. Bryullov studies the play of artificial and natural light effects with exceptional care, giving different areas of the canvas their own tonal key. The figures draw on direct study of classical sculpture found at Pompeii and Herculaneum.