Alexei Savrasov. Kutuzov's Hut in Fili

This 1859 drawing by Alexei Savrasov depicts the hut in the village of Fili near Moscow where a council of war was held on 1 (13) September 1812. Relying on the opinion of a minority of the assembled generals, Mikhail Kutuzov decided not to give battle on an unfavourable position and to abandon Moscow in order to preserve the army for the continuation of the war.

The hut belonged to a peasant: documents mention a resident of Fili, Mikhail Frolov. Savrasov drew it nine years before the fire of 7 (19) July 1868 in which the historic hut burned down. Its original appearance is reliably known above all from the artist's studies, and when the hut was recreated in 1886–1887 to a design by the engineer M. N. Litvinov and the architect N. D. Strukov, they made use of a drawing by Savrasov. Since 1962 the hut has been a department of the Borodino Battle Panorama Museum.

Alexei Savrasov (1830–1897), the author of the famous painting "The Rooks Have Returned", worked a great deal in the outskirts of Moscow — in Sokolniki, Fili and Kuntsevo. This sheet is executed in mixed media: Italian and graphite pencil, watercolour, gouache, white, pastel and ink on paper.