The Last Day of Pompeii
Karl Bryullov, 1830–33
Vesuvius erupts in AD 79. Lightning, falling statues and ash come down on a street in Pompeii as its people try to run.
About this work
Karl Bryullov painted The Last Day of Pompeii between 1830 and 1833. Its subject is the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which buried Pompeii in volcanic ash and killed most of its inhabitants. Bryullov visited Pompeii in 1827, studied finds in the museum at Naples, read Pliny the Younger's eyewitness account, and set the scene in the Street of the Tombs, with authentic paving and objects. He said he could only have managed the composition with Raphael's School of Athens as his model, but he combined classical figures with Romantic drama: burning colour, chiaroscuro, toppling statues and a bolting horse. Among the crowd he painted himself as a Pompeian artist carrying his equipment on his head. The painting, commissioned by Count Anatoly Demidov, was received with near-universal acclaim in Italy, won a gold medal at the Paris Salon of 1834, and made Bryullov the first Russian painter with an international reputation. It inspired Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Last Days of Pompeii. Demidov presented it to Tsar Nicholas I in 1834, and it is now in the State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg.
Sources: Wikipedia · Wikimedia Commons
Print facts
- Native resolution
- 3,840 × 2,696 px
- Sharp at 150 ppi up to
- 25 × 17 in
- Sizes
- Small (20 × 14 in) · $100 · 192 ppi
Medium (24 × 17 in) · $150 · 159 ppi
Large (36 × 25 in) · $300 · 107 ppi - Price includes
- Frame and US shipping · 14–21 days · 30-day returns
FAQ
Where can I buy a framed print of The Last Day of Pompeii?
Here. The Last Day of Pompeii is available as a framed print in three sizes: Small (20 × 14 in) for $100, Medium (24 × 17 in) for $150 and Large (36 × 25 in) for $300. Prices include the frame and US shipping; delivery takes 14–21 days, with 30-day returns.
What size works best for The Last Day of Pompeii?
The file is 3,840 × 2,696 px. Medium (24 × 17 in) is the largest size that prints at 150 ppi or more (159 ppi), the sharpest choice for close viewing; Large (36 × 25 in) prints at 107 ppi, fine from a few feet away but softer up close.
Is it legal to print The Last Day of Pompeii?
Yes. The Last Day of Pompeii is in the public domain: its copyright, if it ever had one, expired long ago. In the United States a faithful photograph of a public-domain painting does not create a new copyright (Bridgeman v. Corel, 1999), so the image can be printed and sold freely.
