The Vrubel family did not belong to the nobility. Great-grandfather of the artist – Anton Antonovich Vrubel – was originally from Białystok and served as a judge in his local town. His son (1799–1859) became a professional military. He retired at the rank of Major General, was twice married and had three sons and four daughters. For the last ten years of his life, Mikhail Antonovich served as an ataman of the Astrakhan Cossacks. At that time, the Astrakhan governor was a famous cartographer and admiral . The governor's daughter Anna later married the second son of Mikhail Antonovich from the first marriage, Alexander, who previously graduated from the Cadet Corps, served in the Tengin Infantry Regiment, participated in the Caucasian and Crimean Wars. In 1855, their first child Anna Aleksandrovna (1855–1928) was born. Altogether, they had four children, each of whom was born one after the other.