Biography

Painter, part of a Russian family of artists, of German origin. The family included various artists and craftsmen, settled in Russia in the 18th century. The brothers Aleksandr Bryullov and Karl Bryullov were its most notable members. Aleksandr was one of the originators and leaders of Romanticism and historicism in Russian architecture. Karl briefly became one of the most famous painters in Europe, largely on account of his huge history painting of the Last Day of Pompeii (1830-32; St Petersburg, Russian Museum). He also produced genre, religious and portrait works. Though much criticized later in the century, he was an outstanding representative of the academic style as combined with a personal response to Romanticism.

Karl spent part of his life in Italy (1822-34 and 1849-52), where he painted his chief work, The Last Day of Pompeii, inspired by a performance of the opera of that name by Giovanni Pacini. An enormous (6 m wide) melodramatic composition, it brought him European fame and inspired Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Last Days of Pompeii (1834).