Vasily Perov

Vasily Perov
Portrait of Vasily Perov by Ivan Kramskoi (1881)
Born	(1833-12-21)21 December 1833 Tobolsk, Russian Empire
Died	26 May 1882(1882-05-26) (aged 48) Kuzminki, Moscow Governorate, Russian Empire
Nationality	Russian
Education	Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture; Imperial Academy of Arts
Known for	Painting
Notable work	Easter Procession (1865) The Hunters at Rest (1871) Portrait of Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1872)
Movement	Realism, Peredvizhniki
Awards	Minor silver medal (1856) Grand silver medal (1857) Minor gold medal (1860) Grand gold medal (1861)
Patron(s)	Pavel Tretyakov

Vasily Grigorevich Perov (Russian: Васи́лий Григо́рьевич Перо́в, born Vasily Grigorevich Vasiliev (Васильев); 2 January 1834 (21 December 1833 Old Style) – 10 June (29 May Old Style) 1882) was a Russian painter and one of the founding members of Peredvizhniki, a group of Russian realist painters.

Vasily Perov was born on January 2, 1834 (21 December 1833 Old Style) in Tobolsk as an illegitimate son of the local procurator baron Grigory Karlovich Kridener who belonged to an old Russian-German noble family tree and Akulina Ivanova, a native citizen of Tobolsk. Although the parents married soon after his birth, there was no legal way to inherit his father's name and baron title. He was written under the godfather's surname — Vasiliev. He later changed his surname to Perov — a nickname given by his teacher who taught him calligraphy as a child (the word pero means feather in Russian).

After completing a course at Arzamas uezd school, he was transferred to the Alexander Stupin art school also located in Arzamas. In 1853 he was admitted to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he learned from several renowned artists. In 1856 he was awarded with a minor silver 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.

After receiving the right to a state-paid trip abroad together with a golden medal, in 1862 Perov went to Western Europe, visiting several German cities, and then Paris. During this time he created paintings depicting scenes from European street life, such as the Vendor of statuettes, the Savoyard, the Organ-Grinder in Paris, the Musicians and the Bystanders, and the Paris Ragpickers.