Antique Ernest C Rost Signed Riverscape Landscape Lighthouse Etching 34"

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Late 19th century black and white etching by Ernest Christian Rost. A panoramic landscape / riverscape showing a farmhouse at … Read more Late 19th century black and white etching by Ernest Christian Rost. A panoramic landscape / riverscape showing a farmhouse at the edge of a waterway with a small lighthouse in the distance. Signed in plate EC Rost 1892. Remake of a riverscape, lower left. Pencil signed, lower edge. Ornate foliate carved wood and gesso frame; white mat.

Ernest Christian Rost - American, 1866 - 1940 - Ernest was born January 20, 1866, at Mt. Vernon, N.Y. and was probably the son of Christian Rost (a locally known engraver) and Minna M. Rost. Nothing is known of his childhood except he was the fourth of six children in the family. By the mid-1880's E.C. Rost was exhibiting landscapes in oil at the National Academy of Design, New York City. After 1887 his oil painting stopped and by 1891 etching became his primary occupation. Today, the Library of Congress (Prints and Photographs Division) maintains 63 etchings signed 'Ernest C. Rost' or 'E. C. Rost', with dates running from 1891 to 1896. These often portray country lanes, cottages, rural scenes, sea, river and bayside settings, mostly in New York State, but several depict homes of famous statesmen and writers. With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Rost was sent by the U.S. War Department to Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam as a civilian photographer of military operations and installations. Today, 21 photographs taken by E. C. Rost of these islands are held by the National Archives (Audio-Visual Division), while still another 26 photographs, all of Cuba, are held by the Library of Congress. In 1894 he sued his agents, Fishel, Adler and Schwartz Co. for the sale of his etchings as artist's proofs to which his signature had been forged. He went to the shop and bought 2 of these fo $.90 each, whereas Ernest testified that they were worth $5 each. He was so angered by the lawsuit experience that he never again etched. By 1898 Rost had apparently given up etching and entered photography full-time. Still, photography was not his only occupation during this time period, for he began writing, too. Between 1899 and 1900, at least 7 articles by Rost appeared in the popular 'Leslie's Illustrated Weekly Newspaper'.

Dimensions:
33.75" x 1" x 19.75" (Width x Depth x Height) See less