"The death of Pompeii" (picture). Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovski

"The death of Pompeii" can be called one of the little-known masterpieces of Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky. The historical event, the tragedy of the ancient city, inspired the painter to approach the plot with new thoughts.

Artist

Ivan Aivazovsky, or Hovhannes Ayvazyan, was and remains one of the most famous marine painters of Russia. His seascapes are loved and appreciated all over the world. Works are exhibited at popular auctions "Sotheby's" and "Christies" for millions of British pounds sterling.

Born in 1817, Ivan Konstantinovich lived eighty-three years and died a quiet death in a dream.

Hovhannes was born into a merchant family of Armenians from Galicia. The famous artist later recalled that his father first distanced himself from his roots and tried even to pronounce his name in Polish manner. Ivan was proud of his educated parent, who knew several languages.

From his birth, Aivazovsky lived in Feodosia. His talents for art early noticed the architect Jacob Koch. It was he who began to teach Ivan painting.

The mayor of Sevastopol, having seen the gift of the future master, also took part in his becoming as an artist. Young talent, thanks to the efforts of the head of the city, sent to study free of charge in St. Petersburg. Like many other famous Russian artists, Aivazovsky was from the Art Academy. It largely influenced the preferences of the classic of marine painting.

Style

The Art Academy in St. Petersburg helped shape the style of Aivazovsky, thanks to his studies with Johann Gross, Philip Tanner, Alexander Sauerweide.

Drawing "Calm", Ivan Konstantinovich in 1837 receives a gold medal and the right to go to Europe.

After that, Aivazovsky returns to Crimea, home. There he wrote seascapes for two years, and also helps the army in battles against the enemy. One of his paintings of that period was bought by Emperor Nicholas the First.

Upon his return to St. Petersburg he was awarded the title of nobleman. In addition, he acquires such eminent friends as Karl Bryullov and composer Mikhail Glinka.

Wandering

Since 1840 the pilgrimage of Aivazovsky in Italy begins. On the way to the capital, Ivan and his friend Vasily Sternberg come to Venice. There they get acquainted with one more representative of the Russian elite Gogol. Artist Aivazovsky, whose paintings have already become known in the Russian Empire, visited many Italian cities, visited Florence, Rome. For a long time he stayed in Sorrento.

For many months Aivazovsky stayed with his brother, who became a monk, on the island of Saint Lazarus. There he also spoke with the English poet George Byron.

The work "Chaos" was bought from him by Pope Gregory Sixteenth. Critics favored Aivazovsky, and the Paris Art Academy even handed him the medal for merit.

In 1842, the painter left Italy. After moving through Switzerland and the Rhine, he goes to Holland, later to the UK. On the way back, he visits Paris, Spain and Portugal. Four years later he is back in Russia.

Aivazovsky, living in St. Petersburg, became an honorary professor of the Academy of this city, as well as Paris, Rome, Stuttgart, Florence and Amsterdam. He continued to paint marine paintings. On his account more than 6,000 landscapes.

From 1845 he lived in Feodosia, where he founded his school, helped create a gallery, initiated the construction of a railway. After death, the unfinished canvas "The Explosion of a Turkish Ship" was left.

Famous Paintings

Pictures Aivazovsky were fervently loved by representatives of all classes of the Russian Empire, and later the Soviet Union. Almost in every modern family, at home there is at least one reproduction of Ivan Konstantinovich.

His name has long been a sign of the highest quality among the marine painters. The most popular are such works of the artist:

• The Ninth Wave.
• "Pushkin's Farewell to the Sea", which he wrote together with Repin.
• "Rainbow".
• "Moonlit Night on the Bosphorus."
• Among the masterpieces that Aivazovsky wrote, "The death of Pompeii."
• "View of Constantinople and the Bosphorus."
• "Black Sea".

These paintings appeared even on postage stamps. They were copied, embroidered with a cross and smooth.

Confusion

Interestingly, many confuse the "death of Pompeii." The picture, who wrote it, do not know everything, has nothing to do with Briullov's canvas. His work is called "The Last Day of Pompeii."

Karl Pavlovich wrote it in 1833. It depicts ancient people running from an erupting volcano. Bryullov residents of Pompeii are trapped in the city itself. "The death of Pompeii," the description of the painting is very different, conveying a completely different idea.

The landscape of Aivazovsky was written in 1889, much later than its predecessor. It is likely that, as a friend of Bryullov, the marine painter could be inspired by the same chosen theme of the tragedy of the ancient period.

History of the painting

The most uncharacteristic work of Aivazovsky is "The Death of Pompeii." The picture was created in 1889. As a basis, he took a story from history. What happened to the city, is still considered one of the largest natural disasters in the world. Pompeii, once a beautiful ancient settlement, was located near Naples, near the active volcano. In 79, the eruption began, which took hundreds of lives. The description of Aivazovsky's painting helps to convey all these events.

If Bryullov showed in his canvas what the city itself and the people inside it could look like, then Aivazovsky focused on the sea.

"The death of Pompeii." Picture: who wrote and wanted to say

Being a seascape, Ivan Konstantinovich focused on the transfer of the plot outside the city. History already tells us how the death of Pompeii ends. The painting is painted in very gloomy scarlet tones, symbolizing all human lives buried under the lava layer.

The central figure of the canvas is the sea, along which ships sail. In the distance you can see a city illuminated by lava. The sky is dark with smoke.

Despite all the horror of this event, Aivazovsky gives some hope for a brighter future by showing the ships overflowing with the saved people.

Ivan Konstantinovich wanted to convey the desperation of those who saw the death of Pompeii. The picture is not focused on the faces of dying people. Nevertheless, the whole of the tragedy and horror of the situation speaks as if the red-hot sea. The canvas is dominated by crimson, black and yellow colors.

On the central plane are two large ships that fight with sea waves. In the distance, several more are seen hurrying to leave the place of death, in which the inhabitants of the city, immortalized on the canvas "The Death of Pompeii", died forever.

If you look closely, above, in the smoke rings there is an erupting volcano, from which flow to the ancient temples and houses of the lava river. Aivazovsky strengthened the effect of presence, adding throughout the picture a lot of black points of ash settling on the water.

View the picture

"The death of Pompeii" - a painting painted in oil colors, on an ordinary canvas measuring 128 by 218 cm, is stored in Rostov.

It is an integral part of the collection of the Rostov Regional Museum of Fine Arts. Here visitors are received every day from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm. The museum is closed only on Tuesdays. Address: Pushkinskaya street, house 115.

The cost of an ordinary ticket without benefits will cost the visitor 100 rubles. Children who do not go to school will need to pay 10 rubles. Students can pay an entrance ticket of 25 rubles. Students pay 50 rubles, and pensioners 60 rubles.

In the collection of the museum there are also other canvases by Aivazovsky, such as "Sea" and "Moonlight Night". Nevertheless, the pearl of the collection is "The Death of Pompeii". The description of the picture gives a clear idea of how threatening nature can be.