Born into a wealthy Maastricht family, André van Hasselt (Maastricht 1806 – St. Joost-ten-Node nr Brussels 1874) studied in Liège, where he imbued the Enlightenment-derived Liberalism of the Dutch philosopher Johannes Kinker, underwent the influence of Saint-Simonianism, and adopted the French language for his literary ambitions, only occasionally publishing in his native Netherlandic. His earliest poetical effusions, marked by the influence of Victor Hugo, appeared in the late 1820s and were strongly philhellenic: a eulogy on the naval captain and insurrectionist Kōnstantinos Kanaris, “Le chant de la Parganiote”, “L’ombre du Souliote”, etc. Around 1830 he also composed solidarity-poems with the Polish insurrection.

By this time Van Hasselt had graduated from Liège and had settled as a lawyer in his native Maastricht. The surrounding countryside had followed Liège in joining the secessionist Belgian state proclaimed in 1830, but the city itself, fortified and garrisoned, was maintained as an isolated Dutch stronghold, in defiance also of the pro-Belgian sympathies of the populace and indeed of Van Hasselt himself. In 1832, he moved to Brussels, where, thanks to his collection Primevères (1834), he became one of the most celebrated poets of the new Belgian kingdom, was appointed head of the Royal Library, and made the recipient of many official honours. His acquaintance with Victor Hugo deepened into friendship during the latter’s exile in Brussels (1851-52).