Karl Brullov was born on December 12, 1799 in Petersburg, into the family of a teacher of the Imperial Academy of Arts. At the age of ten he already entered the Academy of Arts. The painting Narcissus created by Brullov in 1819 attracted attention of his contemporaries. His graduation work "The Appearance of Three Angels to Abraham by the Oak of Mare" gained him not only the 1st degree certificate of the Academy of Arts, but also a large gold medal. In 1822 with his brother Alexander, subsequently a well-known architect, Karl Brullov went to Italy where he worked for nearly fourteen years. It was the most fruitful period of his creativity: genre compositions, portraits and the masterpiece The Last Day of Pompeii won the artist all-European popularity.

In 1836 Karl Brullov came back to Russia and took the professor’s post in the Academy of Arts. In Petersburg the artist created a unique gallery of portraits of his contemporaries: Nestor Kukolnik, Vasily Zhukovsky, Shishmarevy Sisters, Aleksander Strugovshikov, Yuliya Samoylova with Amazilia Paccini, and some others. He worked on the historical composition The Siege of Pskov, the Polish King Stephen Bathory, which unfortunately remained incomplete. From 1843 till 1847 Karl Brullov was taking part in painting design of St. Isaac's Cathedral. The artist prepared sketches for painting the attic under the tympanum of the main dome and a plafond painting The Mother of God in Glory. However, the aggravation of his lungs disease made him stop the work and go to Italy for treatment. The second Italian period of Karl Brullov’s life lasted for only about three years.

Karl Brullov died on June 11, 1852, in Marciano near Rome and was laid down to rest at the Testaccio cemetery in Rome.