Karl Pavlovich Brüloff (1799-1852) - Baccanale

Oil painting on canvas with a frame depicting Baccanale by Karl Brjullov.
This fascinating painting, depicting a Bacchanal, is attributed to Karl Pavlovič Brjullov due to significant stylistic and physical similarities with some works by the great Russian painter of the 1830s. In particular, the central figure of the Bacchante recalls the elegant and idealized features of the protagonists of the Portrait of Princess Ekaterina Pavlovna Bagration (1849) and the Portrait of the painter in a boat with Baroness Yekaterina Meller-Zakomelsky (1833-35).

The painting dates from the Italian period of the artist (1823-1835), a decisive phase in his development during which Brjullov was able to study closely with Venetian, Bolognese masters, and especially Raphael, whose School of Athens he copied. The warm tones and refined compositional harmony of the Bacchanal reflect this assimilation of the great Italian painting tradition.

The work also fits into the taste for Bacchic subjects that Brjullov developed in some contemporary drawings and may have been commissioned by Prince Anatolij Demidov, his patron and collector, known for his interest in mythological themes and French-inspired painting.

A curious and revealing detail is the presence, behind the Bacchante, of a satyr with an ironic and glib face, which could be a self-portrait of Brjullov himself. This element adds a playful and autobiographical tone to the painting, making it a kind of homage to Mediterranean myth and to the vitality of the Italian experience of the painter.

Expertise by Professor Carlo Sisi, dimensions with frame 95 x 121 cm.