Rivierlandschap met vissers bij avond 1847

Auguste Paul Charles Anastasi created this river landscape with fishermen by night using lithography. This printmaking technique involves working on a flat stone or metal plate with a greasy medium. The stone is then treated so that ink adheres only to the greasy areas, allowing the image to be printed. The result here is a beautifully graded image with velvety blacks and subtle shades of gray, capturing the serene stillness of the river at twilight. Lithography was a relatively new technology in Anastasi's time, and offered artists a way to create multiple original images. The prints like this could be widely distributed and sold at a lower price than unique works, thus broadening the audience for art. We can see how the work’s materiality reflects the rise of industrial processes in the 19th century, subtly reshaping artistic practice and distribution networks. It reminds us that art is not just about individual genius, but also about the social and economic conditions of its making.