Lot 1216 Dα

Johann Peter Hasenclever learnt to paint at the Düsseldorf academy under lecturers such as Theodor Hildebrandt (1804-1874). In 1838 he moved to Munich with several of his artist colleagues, where he remained until 1843. Following two trips to Italy, the newlywed Hasenclever returned to Düsseldorf. He became a member of the Munich art society and the academies of Berlin and Amsterdam. The King of Belgium awarded him a gold medal in 1851. Hasenclever is considered one of the most important representatives of Düsseldorf genre painting. He generally chose motifs allowing him to depict groups of figures in different emotional states and with varying characteristics, such as in the present work.
Many of Hasenclever's works capture the political zeitgeist and social conditions of the “Vormärz” and the revolution of 1848. The series “Labourers before the City Council” was completed between 1848 and 1850 and encompasses three paintings, an oil sketch and a preparatory sketch. The two other paintings that exist aside from this work are kept in the painting gallery of the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf and the Bergisches Museum Schloss Burg in Solingen. The oil sketch and the preparatory sketch are also on view to the public in the Westfälisches Landesmuseum in Münster and in the "Historisches Zentrum" of Hasenclever's hometown of Remscheid.
This series of works illustrates the events that took place in Düsseldorf on 9th October 1848. When the city council decided to dismiss 600 labourers, 200 members of the “Volksclub”, the most prominent leader of which was Ferdinand Lassalle, gathered to protest before the town hall. A “Deputation to the Council Leaders for Work” was sent. The present painting is unusual within the series in that it shows the delegate of the labourers standing in a bowed, subservient attitude before the gentlemen of the council. This is in stark contrast to the compositions of the other, later works in which the labourer hands over the document in a confident and proud manner, and clearly displays Hasenclever's more moderate political opinion at this time.