Vasily Perov was born on 2 January 1834 in Tobolsk, Tobolsk Governorate, Russian Empire, as Vasily Grigorevich Vasiliev. Perov was an illegitimate son of the local procurator baron, Baron Gregor Gustav Friedrich von Krüdener, who belonged to a German and Baltic Germannoble family, which belonged to the Uradel, and Akulina Ivanova, a native citizen of Tobolsk. Although Perov's parents married soon after his birth, there was no legal way to inherit his father's name and baron title, so he was registered under his godfather's surname — Vasiliev. He later changed his surname to Perov — a nickname given to him by his teacher who taught him calligraphy as a child. After completing a course at Arzamasuyezd school, Perov was transferred to the Alexander Stupinart school also located in Arzamas. In 1853, Perov was admitted to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow, where he learned from several renowned artists. In 1856, Perov was awarded with a minorsilver medal for his sketch of a boy's head, presented to the Imperial Academy of Arts. Later the Academy gave him many other awards: in 1857 a major silver medal for Commissary of Rural Police Investigating, a minor golden medal for the Scene on a Grave and the Son of a Dyak Promoted to First Rank, and in 1861 a major golden medal for Sermon in a Village. In 1862, after receiving the right to a state-paid trip abroad together with a golden medal, Perov travelled to Western Europe, visiting several German cities, and then Paris. During this time he created paintings depicting scenes from European, such as the Vendor of statuettes, the Savoyard, the Organ-Grinder in Paris, the Musicians and the Bystanders, and the Paris Ragpickers. Returning to Moscow early, from 1865 to 1871 Perov created his best known pieces, The Queue at The Fountain, A Meal in the Monastery, Last Journey, Troika, the Lent Monday, Arrival of a New Governess in a Merchant House, the Drawing Teacher, A Scene at the Railroad, the Last Tavern at Town Gate, the Birdcatcher, the Fisherman, and the Hunters at Rest. In 1866, Perov received the title of an academician, and in 1871 the position of a Professor at Moscow School of Arts, Sculpture and Architecture. It was around this period that Perov joined the Peredvizhniki, a collective of Russian realist painters formed as an artists cooperative in protest of academic restrictions. Perov died on 10 June from tuberculosis, and his body was interred at the Donskoy Cemetery.
