The portrait of Mikhail Speransky was painted by artist Vasily Tropinin in 1839. Speransky was a statesman and reformist during the reign of two emperors: first under Alexander I, and then Nicholas I. A month before his death, he received the title of count. Mikhail Speransky died the same year the painting was made. Art historians assume that the portrait was completed after he had passed away. This is evidenced by the burnt candle, which stands on the table – a symbol of a life extinct.

Vasily Tropinin was an outstanding master of realistic and romantic portraiture. He was born in 1776 into a serf family in one of the villages of the Novgorod Governorate. His master was Count Anton Münnich. For faithful service, he set the father of the future artist free. All other Tropinins remained serfs. When the master’s daughter married Count Irakli Morkov, he received the Tropinins as his wife’s dowry. At the Morkovs’ estate, Tropinin helped with the housework. He began to show interest in drawing early, and this was noticed in the count’s family. Morkov’s brother interceded for him at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, and in 1798 the talented young man was enrolled on the portrait painting course.

There he received silver and gold medals for competition paintings. Soon, Empress Catherine II herself noted his talent. Tropinin’s teacher, the famous portrait painter Stepan Shchukin, told Count Irakli Morkov about the successes of his serf. In order not to lose Vasily Tropinin, the count sent the painter to Ukraine, where he had another estate. There Tropinin lived for about twenty years.

In 1821 he moved to Moscow, and two years later, at the age of 47, the renowned artist was finally set free. Vasily Tropinin received the title of academician of portraiture and carried out many private orders. Outstanding people of that time sat for him: the writers Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Karamzin, the painter Karl Bryullov.