The circumstances that led to the printing of one of Joseph Hidley’s Poestenkill townscapes are not known. Did Hidley solicit the Albany lithographer G. W. Lewis to make a print of his painting, or did Lewis see the painting elsewhere and spot a commercial opportunity? There are no surviving records to indicate whether or not Hidley received any profit from the prints but certainly they disseminated the artist’s name to a greater audience than his paintings alone could have accomplished.