“Great Artists” - a collection about outstanding masters of painting. The book series contains more than 50 illustrations, an “exquisitely written” biography of the artist and the history of the creation of the paintings. The album is dedicated to the work of Bryullov.

The outstanding artist Karl Pavlovich Bryullov (1799-1852) is one of the most famous representatives of romanticism in Russian painting. Bryullov's works are marked by the affirmation of the sensory-plastic beauty of man, the dramatic intensity of images, realistic tendencies, and subtle psychologism. The boring and official “ceremonial portrait”, which noblemen and merchants were supposed to have according to their status, Bryullov made it come to life in everyday or historical scenes, cute grimaces, fleeting smiles, half-turns of the head, folds of the dress. This artist was a writer at heart and even he tried to fit an entire novel into the smallest picture, inventing it on the fly. Having gone to Italy as a pensioner of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Bryullov lived and worked there from 1823 to 1835. The impressions of the “midday region”, its nature and art helped the young Bryullov to transform the experience of academic classicism, educational copying of antiques into living images full of sensual charm. Already the artist’s early paintings are characterized by virtuosic drawing and composition, emotional, warm color (“Italian Afternoon”, “Bathsheba”). Having visited the excavation site of the tragically lost ancient Roman city, Bryullov begins work on the canvas “The Last Day of Pompeii.” The artist managed to depict a crowd of citizens seized by a single impulse at the fateful moment of its historical existence, thereby creating the first example that multi-figured historical picture-result, which all Russian painting of the 19th century recognized as its ultimate task. “The Last Day of Pompeii” is making a splash - both in the master’s homeland and abroad. In Italy and France, the painting is hailed as the first triumph of the Russian art school. N.V. Gogol dedicates an enthusiastic article of the same name to her, calling her “a complete, universal creation.” Solemnly welcomed in his homeland as the first artist of Russia, Bryullov, prompted by Emperor Nicholas I, turned to the Russian past. But the painting “The Siege of Pskov by Stefan Batory” did not become a new masterpiece, since it failed to achieve a convincing compositional and ideological unity of military and church history. The main area where Bryullov’s talent reigns sovereignly and brilliantly is becomes a portrait. He paints bravura social portraits, impressive with their strong colorful and compositional effects (“Countess Yu. P. Samoilova leaving the ball with A. Paccini’s adopted daughter”). A different, contemplative and calm mood dominates in the images of people of art, more restrained in color, which seems to flicker from within the form, emphasizing the spiritual significance of the models (“Poet N.V. Kukolnik”, “Sculptor I.P. Vitali”, “V. A. Zhukovsky", "I. A. Krylov"). This cycle also includes “Self-Portrait,” written in a warm tone and with a light brush, but imbued with moods of deep melancholy, fatigue and ill health. Bryullov, weakening from illness, spends the last years of his life on the island of Madeira and again in Italy. During this period, the artist creates expressive, complete portraits of subtle spiritual grace (“Archaeologist M. Lanci”, unfinished painting “G. Tittoni in the image of Joan of Arc”), warmed by poetic humor and sketches of folk life.