Workers in Front of the Magistrate, ca. 1848/1850
Oil on canvas
Dimensions without frame154 × 225,4 cm
Dimensions with frame165 × 235 cm
About the workThis scene can be traced back to a real event that took place in Düsseldorf the year this work was painted: unemployed citizens gathered at the town hall to demand occupation. At that time, revolutionaries all over Germany were fighting for democracy and more justice. The Düsseldorf painter Johann Peter Hasenclever portrayed the affair in a generalised way at an arbitrary location and exaggerated the city council in his typical caricatural style. His involvement with the riots was not merely artistic; he also participated on the side of the citizens’ militia.
AccessionAcquisition 1978
Provenance[...]; 1978 angekauft von der Galerie Paffrath, Düsseldorf, mit Unterstützung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
Inventory numberM 1978-2
