Portal:Opera/Selected picture/43
The Last Day of Pompeii (Bryullov)
Credit: Karl BryullovThe Last Day of Pompeii, Karl Bryullov's 1833 painting depicting the destruction of Pompeii following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The painting was inspired in part by Giovanni Pacini's opera L'ultimo giorno di Pompei which premiered in Naples in 1825 with spectacular special effects. Pacini's young daughters, Amazilia and Giovannina, served as the models for the two children sheltering in the arms of a Pompeian woman. The woman was modelled on Yuliya Samoylova who was the foster mother of Pacini's daughters and had been the lover of both Pacini and Bryullov.