Uitgehongerde wolf 1840 - 1880

Johannes Tavenraat made this pen and ink drawing of a ‘Hungry Wolf’ in the Netherlands, sometime in the mid-19th century. The frenzied energy of the animal, with its snarling mouth and desperate leap, speaks to a growing concern for the social order in this period. In the decades after the Napoleonic wars, stark inequalities in the distribution of land and resources led to widespread hunger and social unrest in the Netherlands. We can see the wolf as a metaphor for the desperation of the poor and the breakdown of traditional social hierarchies. Tavenraat was active in a period of cultural change and rising social consciousness. By depicting the raw, untamed hunger of the wolf, the drawing challenges the conventional idealization of nature. Instead, it points to the more brutal realities of survival. To understand more about Tavenraat’s social context, historians consult a variety of sources: from agricultural records to political pamphlets and the records of charitable institutions. Through this research, the art of the past can speak to the social realities of its time.