Nikolai Alexandrovich Klodt

The Wogau family business in Russia started with a trading company founded by Philipp Maximilian von Wogau (1807 – 1880). Using profits from the tea trade, the company started buying and selling cotton. By the beginning of World War I, the Wogau company had built and controlled one of the most extensive trading and industrial conglomerates in the Russian Empire. Elsa von Wogau b. 1876 in Moscow was the granddaughter of the founder of the company. She married Hugo Marc (1869 – 1918) who then became part owner of the trading house. When Germany declared war on Russia, the positions of German-owned enterprises were threatened. Although Wogau & Co. formally operated until 1918, most operations had been ceased by 1916. By the time of the revolution many members of the founding families had left the country. Elsa von Wogau moved from Russia to Sweden together with one of her sons 1918. Hugo Marc died in Moscow in 1918.

Photo: Interior from the Marc home on Vorontsove Pole Ulitsa in Moscow. The Klodt painting is placed above the writing desk.