Kutaisov, Ivan Pavlovich

In 1770, a 10-year-old Turkish boy was captured by Russian troops during the assault on Bender . General Repnin gave a generous ransom for him and sent the empress as a gift. The surname is given by the name of the city of Kutahya in Turkey . According to another version - according to the name of the city of Kutaisi in Georgia (more correct, judging by the last name), where, possibly, Ivan Pavlovich was born ^[1] . On August 6, 1770, Kutaisi was liberated from the Turks by the troops of Russian General Totleben , including the release of several boys whom the Turks captured in Georgia and performed a circumcision ceremony over them (which is why he was considered a Turk). They were taken with them to Russia, but only one by the name of Kikiani was brought alive.

He grew up at the court of the heir, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich . Having learned hairdressing in Paris and Berlin, he performed valet duties with the Grand Duke. Having studied the character of Paul, the agile and capable Kutaisov was able to apply to his peculiar manifestations, thanks to which he not only avoided prolonged cooling, but soon became necessary to the Grand Duke and himself gained influence on him. “Maneuvering among a small female world at court, he played the secret role of a pimp in it” ^[2] .

After Paul’s accession to the throne, Kutaisov was first made his wardrobe master , then during the first half of 1799 he was promoted to the Baron’s on February 22 and the Count of the Russian Empire on May 5, awarded the highest degrees of the orders of St. Anne , St. Alexander Nevsky , St. John of Jerusalem St. Andrew the First-Called . The count of Provence bestowed upon him the commanding cross of the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem .

Captured turkish little by little became an ober-stalmeister , count, andreevsky gentleman and did not stop shaving the sovereign. Having once bored with this craft, he began to assert that his hand was trembling, and recommended, instead of himself, one guard paramedic. But this was Paul's view that the poor non-commissioned officer, with fear, the razor fell out of his hand, and he could not get down to business. “Ivan! The emperor shouted, “shave you!” Ivan, having removed Andreev’s tape, rolled up his sleeves and, with a sigh, set to work again.

- N.I. Grech ^[3]

These successes in the career and the stream of honorary awards corresponded to generous awards by the lands (mainly in Courland ) and peasants (5 thousand souls), so that he became one of the richest people at the court of Paul. According to Derzhavin , the temporary worker used all sorts of tricks and intrigues to buy Shklov from Zorich at a cheap price, and Count Orlov-Chesmensky complained to Vorontsov that they began to "quibble" when he did not agree to sell his horse factory in the village of Ostrov near Moscow " who sold him Turkish blood, French education, limited to sovereign " ^[4] .

The sudden rise of the barber that reminded some of the career of the trusted barber Louis XI (Louis brought the barber Olivier Le Dan to him and brought him to the nobility), indignant and insulted the higher nobility. According to Varvara Golovina , with his low behavior, especially regarding the Empress Maria Feodorovna , he aroused general contempt. Prince Dolgoruky , recalling how Kutaisov once opened the doors in front of him and sewed on his dress galloons, ironizes: “ I didn’t know what his name was then, and now, meeting with him, the title of His Grace and at feasts he sits very far from me . O Tempora! O Mores! However, when did this not happen? Menshikov was selling pancakes! Why should Kutaisov not be a count? He expertly shaved his beard to Paul! This is not a trifle! " ^[5]

“One of the random figures, who briefly flashed at the foot of the Russian throne and did not play any significant political role, left a sharply negative memory,” wrote V. V. Zgura about Kutaisov ^[6] . It is difficult to find a positive review about Kutaisov in memoirs; N. I. Grech directly calls him a "freak" ^[3] . According to Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich , Kutaisov “did not have any convictions, and broad state interests were alien to him; a propensity for intrigue, greed, fear for his position led him ” ^[4] .

He was guided by these motives, convincing the emperor to resign the favorite tempted in court intrigues, the favorite Nelidova and introducing discord in his relations with the empress. He patronized the relations of the sovereign with Anna Lopukhina and embraced the eldest son for her sister. His own mistress, Ms. Chevalier , also acquired great importance in the second half of the reign - “gave out places, granted ranks, and decided processes at a public auction” ^[3] .

The affection of Count Kutaisov, a married man and the father of the family, to Mrs. Chevalier and his generosity to her seemed to many to be very excusable; but her influence on affairs through this temporary worker, her venal patronage, the distribution of seats for the money of everyone was outraged. They assured that Kutaisov shared her love with his master Pavel.

- F. F. Vigel ^[7]

There is an unjustified legend that on the eve of the murder of Pavel Kutaisov received a warning letter, but was too lazy to open it and thereby killed the king. After the coup on March 11, 1801, he fled from Mikhailovsky Castle . Having not found a temporary worker in the palace, parade ground major Gorgoli set off to look for him in the chambers of Madame Chevalier, where he often spent the night. According to the message of N. A. Sablukov ^[8] ,

After spending a short time under arrest, Kutaisov left Russia for Europe. Upon his return, he settled in Rozhdestveno estate near Moscow, where in 1810-23 he rebuilt a new estate and the Church of the Nativity of Christ , in which at the beginning of the 20th century there were granite tombstones of the Kutaisovs.

Fishing on the Volga granted by Pavel Kutaisov was seized by Alexander for public use ^[9] , while Kutaisov kept other property. In favor of such a decision, in particular, Admiral Nikolai Mordvinov came forward, recalling that the law of private property should have been unshakable ^[10] .

Kutaisov was very successful in agriculture and, according to D. N. Bantysh-Kamensky , took "one of the first places between our farmers: he opened a factory in his Tambov estate: linen and cloth, also an excellent horse factory."

He was married since 1779 to Anna Petrovna (1760-1848), the daughter of the rich Petersburg merchant, Peter Terentyevich Rezvoy (1729-1779), the sister of Major General D.P. Rezvoy . E.P. Yankova spoke of her as "a very kind and respectable woman who died much later than her husband, having lived to an advanced age." ^[11] From the marriage, Kutaisov had three sons and three daughters, as well as an illegitimate daughter from the actress Madame Chevalier , with whom he was in open communication.

• Pavel Ivanovich (1780-1840), chamberlain, honorary commander of the Order of Malta, member of the State Council; He was married to Princess Praskovya Petrovna Lopukhina (1784-1870), daughter of His Grace Prince P.V. Lopukhin .
• Alexander Ivanovich (1784-1812), in the rank of major general, died a heroic death near Borodin .
• Maria Ivanovna (1787-1870), from 1806 she was married to Count Vladimir Fedorovich Vasiliev (1782-1839).
• Sofya Ivanovna (1789-1793)
• Nikolai Ivanovich (179. — 179.)
• Nadezhda Ivanovna (1796-1868), maid of honor, author of memoirs on the uprising of 1830-1831. in Poland . Since 1821, she was married to Prince Alexander Fedorovich Golitsyn (1796-1864).

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  Pavel Ivanovich
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  Alexander Ivanovich
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  Nadezhda Ivanovna
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  Alexander Golitsyn

Count Kutaisov is the character of Nikolai Strelnikov ’s operetta “Servant” (1929) and the feature film “The Serf Actress” made by this operetta (dir. Roman Tikhomirov , 1963).