Three of his more important works are a portrait of Alexander Pushkin and paintings called The Lace Maker and The Gold-Embroideress.

Vasily was born as a serf of Count Munnich in the village Korpovo of Novgorod guberniya.

Instead of learning his trade Tropinin secretly attended free drawing lessons in the Imperial Academy of Arts.

At the dawn of his success, Count Morkov recalled Tropinin from St. Petersburg to his Ukrainian estate Kukavka.

Soon the owner changed his mind and assigned Tropinin to copy the works of European and Russian painters and produce portraits of the Morkovs.

The same year he presented his paintings The Lace Maker, The Beggar and The Portrait of artist Skotnikov to the Imperial Academy of Arts and received the official certificate of a painter (Svobodnyj Khudozhnik).