Von Astudin, The Lorelei (die Loreley) 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 (German: Rhein) river. The Lorelei (also spelled Loreley) is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, Germany, which soars some 120 metres above the waterline. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents there. Since 1395, the vineyards of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen have been located here.