SPRINGER, CORNELIS1817 Amsterdam - 1891 Hilversum


Title: The Town Hall Street in Naarden with Market.
Date: 1863.
Technique: Oil on wood.
Measurement: 51.3 x 42cm.
Notation: Signed and dated lower right: "C.Springer 1863".
Frame: Framed.
Verso affixed and sealed confirmation letter of the artist:
"Le Soussigné declare par ici que ce tableau, representant Rue de l'Hotel de Ville de Naarden Prov. d'Hollande septentrionale Pays-Bas, est peint par l(ui?) (...)
Amsterda(...) 1869 (left signature)"

Certificate:
Willem Laanstra, Etten-Leur, 12th September, 2024, available in copy.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

We are grateful to Willem Laanstra, Etten-Leur, who confirmed the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a high-resolution digital photograph, for his help with cataloguing.

Cornelis Springer, the son of a carpenter, was one of the most important Dutch veduta painters of the 19th century. He learnt the craft of painting from several masters, including Andries de Wit and Kasparus Karsen. His older brother, the architect Henry Springer, taught him precise architectural drawing.

While Cornelis Springer's earlier paintings were still characterised by the spirit of Romanticism with an emphasis on the mood depicted, his style changed from the 1845s onwards towards a more precise topographical representation of the places depicted. He composed harmonious city and street scenes based closely on sketches made while travelling through Europe. The selection of staffage and the chosen season, lighting and composition: Springer had an enormous repertoire of artistic variations at his disposal to depict places that the public could always recognise. And he was extraordinarily successful with these paintings.

The work presented here shows a market day in the fortified town of Naarden, not far from Amsterdam. Traders and customers meet opposite the Renaissance town hall, built of brick and sandstone, with its characteristic stepped gables. It is late summer. The trees are a dark green colour and the façade of the town hall is bathed in strong yet warm sunlight. Strong shadows fall on the pavement of Rathausstrasse, which extends from the foreground into the depths of the picture. The painter has gathered people from different social classes here: Farmers, middle-class housewives, a girl in a tattered dress and a gentleman in a top hat about to climb the steps to the town hall. This historic building, however, characterises the picture and is the actual subject. The staffage will change, but Naarden's town hall remains almost unchanged today.

When Cornelis Springer created the painting presented here, the Amsterdam artist was at the zenith of his career. Two years later, he would be awarded the country's highest honour, the Order of Leopold, for his achievements. Prominent collectors at home and abroad were among his clients and he would soon represent his country at the World Exhibition.

In his own handwritten and sealed certificate of authenticity on the back of the painting, Cornelis Springer gives the title of the painting as 'Town Hall Street in Naarden'.