European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has recently communicated quite an extraordinary case concerning a rather rare and important 19th century painting. This longstanding lawsuit against Russia was initiated by art collectors Alexander and Irina Pevzner whose oil painting of Christ in the Tomb by Karl Bryullov was misappropriated back in 2003 and has been kept imprisoned in the State Russian Museum ever since.

This unbelievable from the common wisdom standpoint story began 17 years ago when German (and former Russian) nationals Alexander Pevzner and his wife Irina came across an interesting painting hanging in cathedral obscurity in the Russian Orthodox Church of the Resurrection in Brussels, Belgium.

Daguerreotype portrait of Karl Brullov

It was not signed but seemed to be a promising piece by one of the most important painters of Russian mixed Neoclassicism and Romanticism epoch — Karl Bryullov, 1799 — 1852 (or Charles Brulleau as he was a descendant of a family with french origins). Though not much well-liked in Europe (his style seemed somewhat outdated at the times of French romantic tradition of Eugène Delacroix or Théodore Géricault) he has always been considered one of the most prominent artists who have stated the mark in the history of Russian painting.

He spent most of his years in Italy and earned his high profile reputation by depicting the historic image of iconic Vesuvius erruption in 79 AD. This massive picture (height: 456.5 cm/14.9 ft; width: 651 cm/21.3 ft) though received rather cold reception of art critics in France was still awarded with a gold medal at Paris Salon in 1834. It then landed in Russian Empire to finally take its place in the collection of the same above-mentioned State Russian Museum.