Tobolsk Governorate
Vasily Perov was born on 2 January 1834 (21 December 1833 Old Style) in Tobolsk, Tobolsk Governorate, Russian Empire, as Vasily Grigorevich Vasiliev (Васи́лий Григо́рьевич Васильев). Perov was an illegitimate son of the local procurator baron, Baron Gregor Gustav Friedrich von Krüdener, who belonged to a German and Baltic German noble 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 (the word "pero" means "feather" in Russian).