Alexander Bryullov: biography, personal life, creativity, photo

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The name of Alexander Bryullov is familiar to many connoisseurs of architecture and painting. According to his designs, the buildings of the Maly Opera and Ballet Theater, the Lutheran Church of Peter and Paul, the Headquarters of the Guards Corps, the Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory and a number of others were built in St. Petersburg. Alexander Pavlovich is also known as a graphic artist. He was especially good at watercolors and was fond of lithography. We will tell about the life and work of the master in the article.

Biography

Alexander Pavlovich Bryullov was born on 1798-29-11 in St. Petersburg. His father, Pavel Ivanovich Brullo, a Frenchman by birth, was an academician of ornamental sculpture, a woodcarver, an engraver and a master of miniature painting. Mother, Maria Ivanovna Schroeder, had German roots and was the daughter of a court gardener. In addition to Alexander, the family had three more sons: Karl, Pavel and Ivan, and two daughters: Maria and Yulia. All children followed in the footsteps of their father and chose the artistic direction of activity.

In 1809, Alexander Bryullov and his younger brother Karlentered the Academy of Arts, where they studied at public expense. In 1821, the brothers got a job in the civil service, and a year later the Society for the Encouragement sent them to hone their skills abroad. Before the trip, in accordance with the Highest Imperial Decree, Alexander and Karl, who previously had the surname Brullo, added the letter “v” at the end of the generic name, thereby giving it a Russian form. The rest of the family members were not affected by these changes.

In Europe

Winter 1822/1823 the brothers spent in Munich, Germany, and then went to Italy, to Rome. There, Alexander Bryullov studied the ancient ruins with special love. In 1824, he visited Sicily with Alexander Lvov, later went to Pompeii, where he began drafting the restoration of the term. In the same year, in Paris, the artist published an album of drawings called "Thermae of Pompeii" with a text written by him.

In addition, in the French capital, Alexander Pavlovich took a course in mechanics at the Sorbonne University and attended lectures on the history of architecture by Buon. From Paris, Bryullov traveled to other cities in France, including Chartres. Then he went to England. In 1829 he returned to his homeland, to St. Petersburg. In 1831 he received the title of academician and became a teacher at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.

Famous architectural works

The Baths of Pompeii brought Alexander Bryullov the title of a member of the Royal Institute of Architecture in England and the Art Academy in Milan.

Most of the architectural projects of Alexander Pavlovich are made inPetersburg and its environs. Some of the most famous works are the observatory on Pulkovo Hill and the Headquarters of the Guards Corps on Palace Square. Bryullov also built a Gothic church in Pargolovo for Countess Polia, the Mikhailovsky Theater, a house in Slavyanka for Countess Samoilova.

In 1832, the architect designed the Lutheran Church of St. Peter and Paul in the English Gothic style. In the same year, he was awarded the title of professor of architecture, and then entrusted with the construction of the Pulkovo Observatory.

Projects in the capital and provinces

Brullov also demonstrated his talent as an architect in 1837 when recreating the living quarters of the Winter Palace after a fire and building the Exertsirhaus. In this project, Pompeian ornamentation was a great success - the corresponding palace gallery was named after it.

Then Alexander Pavlovich was instructed to rebuild the Marble Palace for the wedding of the son of Nicholas I, Prince Konstantin Nikolayevich. At the same time, Bryullov was engaged in the construction of the building of the Alexander Hospital. In the 1845-1850s. work continued on the Marble Palace, this time it was necessary to rebuild the “Service House”: place the palace stables on the lower floor, and make an arena from the building overlooking the garden. To decorate the building along the facade, on the second floor above the windows, the architect provided for the seventy-meter-long relief "A Horse in the Service of Man" - it was made by Pyotr Klodt according to the graphic sketch of Bryullov. Klodt also made tympanums of the side pediments, depicting tritons that blow inshells.

Alexander Bryullov worked not only in the capital - he also drafted projects for buildings under construction in the provinces. In 1835-1839. designed a memorial obelisk in Tobolsk in honor of the battle between the army of Kuchum, the Tatar Khan, and the detachment of Yermak. In 1842, a caravanserai was built in Orenburg according to his project, which included a mosque with a minaret and a building of civil institutions surrounding them.

Portraitist

Alexander Pavlovich was not only a talented architect, but also an excellent watercolor painter. In the 1820s his work was dominated by romantic landscapes. In 1824, after climbing Vesuvius, he created a series of paintings dedicated to this event.

However, most of all the artist liked to paint watercolor portraits. Alexander Bryullov recalled that in 1825 he could not leave Naples for six months, because he had a huge number of orders. Rumors about a talented Russian portrait painter even reached the monarch of the Kingdom of Naples, and he wished that Alexander Pavlovich executed images of members of the royal family and reigning persons.

It is difficult to establish how many watercolor portraits Bryullov wrote during his time abroad. Among the most famous works are images of V. Perovsky, G. Gagarin, E. Poltoratskaya, I. Kapodistria, E. Zagryazhskaya. In 1830, the artist created a self-portrait.

Technique

Paintings by Alexander Bryullov in a relatively early period of creativity are made in a "dry manner", similar to the body multilayerpainting with small strokes - this is how he achieved the depth of color. Alexander Pavlovich, unlike his brother Karl, did not use such watercolor properties as transparency and lightness.

In the early 1830s. Bryullov painted portraits of the President of the Academy of Arts A. Olenin and statesman M. Speransky. Then he created an image of H. Pushkin - the only portrait of the poet's wife, painted during his lifetime. During this period, the master's watercolor technique has changed markedly. Alexander Pavlovich has already moved away from body writing, strokes have become freer and lighter. He wrote on yellowish paper to use its warm tone as the main image of the hands and faces of the models.

In 1837 in Paris, while visiting Princess Golitsyna, the artist Alexander Bryullov painted W alter Scott, and then independently transferred the portrait to stone. In parallel with watercolor paintings, he also drew pencil paintings, which both had an independent character (for example, the image of M. Vlasov, a portrait of an unknown ensign), and were intended for translation into lithography.

Private life

In 1831, a significant event took place in the biography of Alexander Bryullov: he married Baroness Alexandra von Rahl. In total, the couple lived together for 46 years, until the death of the artist. Bryullov's wife was a talented musician, and musical evenings were often held in their house, which were attended by M. Glinka, K. Bryullov, N. Gogol.

Nine children were born in the family, of which threesons and daughter died young.

Alexander Bryullov died on January 9, 1877 at the age of 78. He was buried in the city cemetery of Pavlovsk. The grave of the artist is an architectural monument of federal significance.