Johann Peter Hasenclever - The Reading Room [1843]

Johann Peter Hasenclever - The Reading Room [1843], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Since the early nineteenth century, public reading rooms had been important meeting places for conversation and the spread of enlightened thinking. In its content, The Reading Room follows on after other works by Hasenclever: The Politicians (1833–34), The Newspaper Readers (1835) and The Politician (1839). In all of these an important role is played by the press as a means of forming public opinion. In Germany in 1842, censorship grew and 1843 saw the banning in Düsseldorf of the newspaper Die Rheinische Zeitung, which had been edited by a friend of Hasenclever’s, the poet Ferdinand Freiligrath.

Johann Peter Hasenclever (Remscheld, May 18, 1810 - Dusseldorf, December 16, 1853) was a German artist. He was a famous painter for his masterful and mature compositions which sensitively depicted bourgeoisie life in the Biedermeier era. Hasenclever was active in the political movement of the pre-March or Vormärz era that culminated in the abortive revolution of 1848 and was an exponent of socially driven art.

[Oil on canvas, 100 x 71 cm]