Tropinin Vassily takes a special place among the artists of the first third of the 19th century. He was a serf of Count Morkov and got freedom only at the age of 47. After that, the artist, together with his wife and son settled in Moscow. In 1823 Tropinin earned an honorary title of academician.

Vassily Tropinin is a creator of a special type of portrait-paintings. That means that he brings some features of genre paintings to his portraits. In the museum collection, there are some works of this artist. The most interesting amongst them is a nice painting called An Old Woman Cutting her Finger Nails.