Short answers, pulled from the story.
Karl Bryullov arrived in Rome with his brother Aleksandr via Venice and Florence in 1823. He saw Alessandro Sanquirico's set designs for Giovanni Pacini's opera L'ultimo giorno di Pompei that year.
The main canvas was commissioned by Count Anatoly Demidov whom Bryullov had met in Naples. They painted an equestrian portrait together the same year and it was to be completed by 1830 for the sum of 40,000 francs.
Bryullov used classical forms recognisable as those used by Renaissance masters combined with features found in Romantic painting such as dramatic colouring. He employed chiaroscuro and high emotional content throughout the scene while creating vibrant colour combined with deep recession.
Yuliya Samoylova and her daughters appear among the crowd alongside a soldier and boy rescuing an older man who may derive from the story of Aeneas's rescue of his father from Troy. An image of the artist himself appears as a Pompeian artist with equipment balanced on his head.
The painting arrived in Russia in August 1834 receiving enthusiasm equal to that in Italy. Tsar Nicholas received the painting from Demidov in 1834 for 25,000 rubles.