Page:Benois - The Russian School of Painting (1916).djvu/96

 unfinished and absurd cacophony of the widest colours. In his decorations of the cupola of the St. Isaak Cathedral, Petrograd, he attempted to reproduce the swing of the Bologna masters, but he produced little more than a trite pastiche. Unnerved by dissipation, deeply disappointed in his own artistic efforts, he fell ill and died at the age of fifty-two, in Rome, his country by adoption.

The best of Bryullov's work that has remained is incontestably his portraits, as well as various, unfortunately too few, studies from nature, landscapes, types, especially those sketched during his travels in Minor Asia, in 1835.

His portraits undoubtedly belong to the best created in this branch of painting during the entire nineteenth century. Truth to say, even here he is not free from his habitual defects, such as somewhat motley colours and a composition rich in importunately sensational effects. Nevertheless, these paintings make a deep impression, owing to their vitality, to the great talent they reveal, and to the technical skill with which they are executed. In them, Bryullov, the virtuoso, appears in all his splendour. But, strange to say, this artist, external, and prone to histrionic effects as he was, is least successful in those of his portraits which are of an official, or, in general, of a grand, showy character.