Painter, genre painter, portraitist and master of historical painting. The illegitimate child of the lawyer Baron G.K.Kridener. From 1846-1849 Perov studied at the Arzamas painting school of A.V.Stupin. From 1853-1862 he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture under M.I. Scotti, A.N.Mokritsky and S.K.Zaryanko. On graduation he won the large gold medal for his painting entitled "Village Sermon" (1861) and a first class art degree. On a scholarship from the Academy of Arts he went to Europe (visiting France and Germany) in 1862. He returned before the term finished to study scenes of Russian life. A member of the Academy from 1866, professor at the Academy of Arts from 1870. From 1871-1882 he taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In 1870 he was one of the founders of the STAE. V.G.Perov’s creative approach was influenced by the aesthetics of N.G. Chernyshevsky and was characterized by his acute social biases. He often copied his works. In 1877 he unexpectedly reviewed his ideas on art and left the STAE. From the very beginning, Perov was an artist interested in social criticism. The revolutionary situation which was developing in Russia made the perception of contemporary life especially acute for the artist. His early work is characterized by its details, dramatic scenes and topical subject, and realism in the depiction and critical awareness of everyday situations. One of the artist’s main themes was portraying the spiritual emptiness and greed of the clergy, the atheism and ignorance of the people (A Village Procession at Easter, 1861). The artist’s creations from the second half of the 1860s are more varied thematically and more lyrical. It is during this period that he produced some outstanding portraits (such as Portrait of F.M.Dostoyevsky, 1872). The creative manner of the artist then changed, from intricate descriptions of a situation containing lots of characters "speakers", he moves towards greater psychologism and drama giving a greater role to the landscape in his work ("Road to the Graveyard", 1865). In the 1870s Perov’s genre painting acquires a new trend. The artist is fascinated by depicting people from all social backgrounds and portraying the "small joys in every day" ("Hunters Resting", 1871). In the late 1870s the artist worked for several years on a large-scale historical painting depicting the Pugachov rebellion ("Pugachov’s Judgement", 1879). The contribution of V.G.Perov to the development of the critical realism during the second half of the 19th century is immense.