In the summer of 1835 K. Bryullov goes with the historical and artistic expedition of VP Orlov-Davydov to Greece and Turkey for the subsequent illustration of “Travel Notes”, and then – to Turkey, to Smyrna, Constantinople. Fate suddenly brought Bryullov with the famous hero of Sevastopol, VA Kornilov. His brig “Themistocles” was anchored in Athens, waiting for the receipt of dispatches to take them to Smyrna. Members of the expedition were also sent there. For the convenience of movement, it was decided to place the patient Bryullov on the brig “Themistocles”. There, friendship with Captain Kornilov began. Full of human dignity, the image of Kornilov in the portrait of Bryullov enchants with the grace of bearing and noble simplicity.
After portraying Kornilov on board the brig “Themistocles,” the artist surrounded him with a native element of the sea. Transparent airy range of light-blue tones, in which a portrait is sustained, is consonant with the purity and nobility of the image of Kornilov. Portrait of Kornilov has features of the artist’s best works. He significantly outgrew the scope of the camera image, becoming a portrait-picture. “Very pleased with Bryullov,” wrote V. Kornilov to his brother, “he justified my good opinion about his good, clean character.”
Acquaintance with Bryullov left an indelible mark in Kornilov’s memory. He appreciated his enormous talent and inexhaustible imagination of the artist. In commanding the Orest Corvette in 1836, Kornilov asked his brother who lived in St. Petersburg to apply to Bryullov with a request to perform a pencil with a composition depicting the mythological hero Orestes, raging and tormented by furies.
This picture, at Kornilov’s will, was to decorate his corvette. Putting a certain symbolic meaning in the content of the picture, Kornilov was concerned that his thought did not become known in government circles. “Do not show to others,” he warned his brother, “will be called sacrilege.” Bryullov, apparently interested in the topic, proposed to him by Kornilov.
In one of the sketches, he portrayed a beautiful young man, pursued by three furies. The pose of a naked Orest with a cloak and a raised arm thrown over his shoulder was inspired by the image of a pompeian covering his family under a raincoat, in the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii.”
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