Jager die een roman leest bij een boom 1839 - 1894

Lambertus Lingeman made this undated drawing entitled 'Hunter Reading a Novel by a Tree' with pencil on paper. The image presents a Dutch hunter pausing in the countryside, rifle at his side, dog at his feet, while he enjoys a novel beneath a tree. It's fascinating to consider how the image represents changing attitudes to land ownership and use in the Netherlands during the 19th century. In earlier periods, hunting had been the exclusive preserve of the wealthy elite. By Lingeman's time, a growing middle class had more access to land, leisure, and education, as we see in the depiction of the reading hunter. The books are both a signifier of class and of the power of the written word in cultural imagination at the time. To fully understand this piece, we need to consider the history of Dutch hunting laws, the growth of literacy, and changing class structures. Only then can we appreciate the social dynamics at play in this seemingly simple sketch.