Struve-Otten Collection
cultural and art object

Project outcomes

In October 2008, RIG PERSONA^® has completed the work on the creation of cultural and art object "Struve-Otten Collection", which lasted almost two years. On recognition by experts from Moscow and Ural region, who were collaborating with the RIG PERSONA^®, it was the first time when they faced with such a highly professional approach and scope of the project at work with a private collection. 

In January 2007, Alex Otten who is the owner of the collection, appealed to the company RIG PERSONA^® “to do something” with the engravings, which he inherited. They were wrapped in tissue paper and were keeping for many years in the loft. It was affected their conditions. After exploring the engravings they decided to restore them. The restavration process gradually developed into the extensional and important task of making heirloom into the significant art and cultural object.

The collection was assembled in the XIX century by scientist-chemist, Henry Struve, the son of the famous astronomer Vasily Struve. It consisted of 78 engraved portraits of prominent European scholars. 

Among the engravings - the work of recognized masters: Ambroise Tardieu, Antoine Morin, Robert Lex, Johann Alexander Beneree, Godfrey Kneller, James Heath and many others.  They were done in various techniques in XVI-XIX centuries: etching, mezzotint, lithography, woodcut, aquatint, galvanography.

In the beginning of the XXI century engravings needed to be restored. But it was not the only goal. The chief artist of RIG PERSONA^® Vasily Smelyanskiy designed the bookplate of Struve-Otten Collection, special construction of mats, four albums-depositories and informational nameplates specially for the collection.

Work on the collection was complicated, multistage, and many experts were involved in restavration process: scientific experts of Academician Igor Grabar’ Art-Union Scientific and Restavration Center (Moscow), specialists of Exclusive Binding Workshop "Paragon" (Moscow) and Expert Institute "Art Consulting" (Moscow). Of course, a huge part of the work was done directly by the company RIG PERSONA^®. 

Nowadays Struve-Otten Collection, collected by Henry Struve and saved by his heirs, has been restored, structured, attributed, complemented by new items (albums-depositories, mats, informational nameplates), which became the integral part of the collection.

According to experts’ reviews of Academician Igor Grabar’ Art-Union Scientific and Restavration Center Struve-Otten Collection is the complete, thematic collection of engravings. It has absolute art, scientific and museum value.

At the end of the project the collection became not only heirloom but the unique cultural and art object.

For the first time, the article was published on the web-site www.persona-rig.ru, 2008