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After studying at the Academy of Arts, Karl Bryullov, to improve his skills, went to Italy. There the painting “A girl picking grapes in the vicinity of Naples” was painted.
The canvas depicts a scene of harvesting grapes. A young girl picks off bunches of grapes and puts them in a wicker basket hanging from her arm. Bunches of grapes hang high, the girl has to reach for them, insert them on tiptoe. The artist stopped time in the picture, and it seems that the girl froze in a dance. Light translucent clothes are designed to convey the tenderness of the southern sun and the warmth of the Italian summer.
Another young girl is resting on the stone steps in the thick shade of grape leaves. It is completely imperceptible that the girl was engaged in hard work, it seems that she was tired and flushed from the dance and lay down for a minute to take a breath. The girl’s cheeks burn with a blush, a light blouse has slept a little, exposing her white chest.
The artist marked the semantic center of the picture in red: blush, clothes, a tambourine in the girl’s hands, a necklace. Green color predominates along the edges of the canvas: grass, bushes and trees, vines frame the picture, making the image more intimate.
Year of painting: 1827.
Dimensions of the painting: 62 x 32.5 cm.
Material: canvas.
Writing technique: oil.
Genre: genre painting.
Style: romanticism.
Gallery: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
