Painted to the commission of the noted collector and art-patron Anatoly Demidov, The Last Day of Pompeii made its creator famous throughout Europe.The painting was inspired by a historical event - the destruction of the Ancient Roman city of Pompeii as a result of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Contrary to the prevailing academic principles, Briullov depicted the tragedy of dying people as a timeless, general human matter. Against a background of collapsing buildings and a threatening sky blazing with fire people on the brink of death continue to live: some scramble madly to escape, others surrender meekly to their fate. The tremendous cataclysm has spurred them to an infinite range of emotional responses - instinct and reason, love and heroism, greed and self-sacrifice. The intensity and unequalness of the clash between humanity and eternity take on a suprahistorical meaning in the painting that is relevant to any age. This is what makes it so symbolic that among the crowd of Pompeians, on the steps of the temple, the artist depicted himself carrying out of the doomed city a box of brushes and paints.