Romantical landscape with a town by the river was executed around 1860-1870 by Russian-German landscape painter Nikolai von Astudin (Russian: Николай Львович Астудин), born July 9, 1847 in Moscow, † August 8, 1925 in Oberlahnstein. The German files contain slightly different Information about the dates of birth and death. According to the Munich registration form, the parents were Helene and Basil Astudin. He became widely known for his Rhine paintings and the numerous reproductions of his views of the Rhine. His work is an expression of the Rhine and Eifel romanticism of the early 20th century.

Astudin was the son of an officer and completed his schooling in Saint Petersburg. He then became a student of the landscape painter Armand-Théophile Cassagne (1823-1907) in Paris. Study trips take him to Finland, the Alpine countries and Italy. In 1875 he is in the Berlin address book under Wartburgstr. 14.III to find. Already in 1876 and 1877 Astudin had exhibitions in Berlin. From 1882 he lived in Munich for a few years. In 1885, participation in an art exhibition in Zurich is documented with a picture of Normandy.[3] Astudin then lived in Kassel for a long time. In 1896 he married the painter Johanna Meineke from Braubach am Rhein. 1904/1905 Astudin lived in Bonn. His Bonn motifs include the Rhine bridge from 1898 and the Godesburg. In 1912 he moved to Oberlahnstein, where he lived until his death. In this late phase he mainly painted Rhine motifs and repeatedly Lahneck Castle.

On the 80th anniversary of his death, the city of Lahnstein organized a retrospective on September 18, 2005 in the Sporkenburger Hof.

Literature: Malerwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts by Friedrich von Boetticher. Beitrag zur Kunstgeschichte. Band I, Dresden, 1891; artist lexicons: byThieme/Becker; by Vollmer.

inscriptions: signed lower left.

Measurements: unframed w 16” x h 10 1/2” (40,5 x 26,5 cm), framed w 18 1/2” x h 13” (47 x 33 cm).

Technique: oil on canvas, old gallery frame.

Condition: very good.