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The Last Day of Pompeii
Karl Bryullov · Romanticism & Landscape
- Artist
- Karl Pavlovich Bryullov (1799–1852)
- Date
- 1830–1833
- Dimensions
- 456.5 x 651 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
The Last Day of Pompeii depicts the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which buried the Roman city under ash. Terrified inhabitants flee through a street as statues topple, buildings collapse and lightning splits the blood-red sky.
A closer look
Bryullov arranged the crowd in dramatic groups, each telling its own story: a young man carries his old father on his shoulders, a mother shields her daughters, a fallen woman lies dead with a baby crying beside her, a priest flees with sacred vessels. On the left, an artist carrying his paint box on his head looks up in horror; it is a self-portrait. Bryullov visited the excavations at Pompeii and based the street on a real one. The painting caused a sensation in Rome, Milan and Paris before being presented to Tsar Nicholas I.