Johann Peter Hasenclever

In 1825, he went away to school in Ronsdorf and moved into the home of his teacher, Johann Peter Fasbender, who recognized and encouraged his talent for drawing.

He made a second attempt in 1836, studying with Theodor Hildebrandt, a great admirer of Dutch Golden Age art.

His first success followed his move to Munich in 1838, where he was commissioned to create illustrations for the satirical poem Jobsiade [de], by Carl Arnold Kortum; the story of a "perpetual student", who ends up working as a night watchman.

[2] Shortly before his death, Karl Marx had praised his work in the New York Daily Tribune, specifically citing his painting "Worker's Delegation Before the Magistrate", as an example of proletarian art.

In the 1960s and 70s, this would lead to a renewed interest in his works within the German Democratic Republic; beginning in 1964, when the art historian, Wolfgang Hütt, started investigating Marxist elements in the paintings of the Düsseldorf school.