Von Astudin, Koblenz Rhein & Mosel Postcard

Oil painting (German: Ölgemälde) by Nikolai von Astudin. Nikolai von Astudin (Russian Николай Львович Астудин / Nikolai Lvovich Astudin), born July 9, 1847 in Moscow; † 8 August 1925 in Oberlahnstein, Germany, was a Russian landscape painter. In 1896 he married the female painter Joan Meineke in Braubach on the Rhine. In 1904/1905 Astudin lived in Bonn. He there painted the Bonn Rhine bridge in 1898 and also the Godesburg. In 1912 he moved to Upper Lahnstein, where he lived until his death. At this late stage,he painted this series of 12 oil paintings of villages and cities along the Rhine. Koblenz (also Coblenz in English and pre-1926 German spellings; also Coblence in English and French) is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck (German Corner) and its monument (Emperor William I on horseback) are situated. As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the town celebrated its 2000th anniversary in 1992. The name Koblenz originates from Latin (ad) confluentes, confluence or "(at the) merging of rivers". Subsequently it was Covelenz and Cobelenz. In the local dialect the name is Kowelenz. After Mainz and Ludwigshafen am Rhein, it is the third largest city in Rhineland-Palatinate, with a population of c. 106,000 (2006). Koblenz lies in the Rhineland, 92 kilometers (57 miles) southeast of Cologne by rail.