Romanticism
They are too superficial and banal. On the contrary, his intimate portraits are of the highest merit, and among them the best are his aquarelles and pencil drawings, in which he rendered the features of his numerous friends with the delicacy and precision of an Ingres and often with a great charm of colouring.
In spite of Bryullov's success, which was unprecedented and has never since repeated itself, he did not create in Russia a real school. Yet his ascendency manifested itself in the entire academic art; moreover, it has outlived academicism by many years and has disappeared only in our own generation. Closest to him stood Count G. G. Gagarin and von-Moller—both amateurs rather than professional artists. Gagarin (1810–1895) was brought up, so to speak, on the cult of Bryullov. The latter frequented the house of his father in Rome, and the young count had the opportunity of watching, day by day, the development of the master and of assimilating his manner as it unfolded itself. Hence—the striking similarity of Gagarin's manner to that of Bryullov, noticeable more in drawing than in painting. With respect to colour Gagarin remained a dilettante given to glaring effects. His drawings, on the contrary, are among the best that have been done in the Russian school. His sketches of mountaineers, his Caucasus landscapes, his portraits, all kinds of odds
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