The commander Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov is often depicted with a black bandage in the eye. We checked whether the Field Marshal wore it during his lifetime.

Perhaps the most memorable image of Kutuzov was created in 1962 by Igor Ilyinsky in the comedy Eldar Ryazanov "Hussar ballad". Lyolik calls the influence of this film on the formation of the stereotype: in the “Diamond hand” released a few years later, Lelik calls Kutuzov Kozodoev, in which the right eye is also bandaged with black cloth.
However, this was not the first appearance of the commander on the screen in a similar guise. Back in 1941, the biographical film “Suvorov” was shot at the Mosfilm film studio, in one of the episodes of which you can see relatively young Kutuzov with a bandage.
Two years later, the Bayopic of Kutuzov also came out, whose title hero performed by Alexei Wild also periodically Appears With a bandage on the face. Today, a commander with a black bandage on the right eye looks at us from numerous portraits, processes and covers of books. It is in this form that it is depicted by monuments in Moscow, Maloyaroslavets and Anapa:

However, if we look at Kutuzov’s portraits made in the 19th century, we will not see any dressings on them:

A few years ago, an article appeared on the website of the Moscow branch of the Russian Military Historical Society with the heading “Kutuzov NOT Pirate, he does not need a bandage in the eye!” There, in particular, it was said:

“In recent years, images of the commander in chief of the Russian army in 1812, Field Marshal General Prince M. I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov with a bandage on the right eye, began to be massively circulated. The “one -eyed” Kutuzov can be seen on the covers of books and magazines, in the paintings of contemporary artists and on various souvenir products, as well as on busts and monuments.

Such images do not correspond to historical reliability, since Kutuzov never wore bandages in the eye. There is not a single memoir or epistolary testimony of contemporaries of Kutuzov, describing Field Marshal with a bandage on the right eye. Moreover, Kutuzov did not need to hide his eyes under the bandage, because he saw with this eye, although not as good as the left.

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The Moscow branch of the Russian Military Historical Society appeals to all artists and sculptors, as well as to manufacturers of printed and souvenir products with an appeal to stop falsifying history and stop replicating the images of M. I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov with a bandage on the right eye. ”

Indeed, in no historical essay or in the memoirs of eyewitnesses, the commander is mentioned with a bandage in the eye, which could be the result of his wounds in 1774 near the Crimean village of Shum and in 1788 near Ochakovo. With each wound, the bullet passed through the temple, which put the life of Kutuzov under the threat, but each time he recovered. These wounds did not cause him any terrible injuries that had to be hidden under the bandage. True, his right eye after that skewed a little, but he did not stop seeing them. This, among other things, is also evidenced by quotes from letters:

“Glory to God, I am healthy, only from a lot of letters the eyes hurt” (April 4, 1799).

“Glory to God, I am healthy, only my eyes are so much work that I don’t know what will happen to them” (March 5, 1800).

“We are all healthy, I have it, but after our eyes were sick, and now they often ache” (December 26, 1806).

“My eyes are very tired; Do not think that they hurt me, no, they are only very tired of reading and writing ”(November 10, 1812).

Baron Levenshtern, who reported to Kutuzov about 15,000 captured Frenchmen in the battle of Red in 1812, recalled: "His eyes sparkled with joy."

This information is confirmed by the historian, the author of the books about the Patriotic War of 1812, Lidia Ivchenko, according to which there is quite reliable information that only in the late campaigns, Mikhail Kutuzova weakened the eyelid and sometimes closed his eyes.

Thus, according to the assurances of the experts, Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov did not wear a bandage in the eye.