Town Hall, Veere

Cornelis Springer was born in Amsterdam on 25 May 1817 to a family of ten children. His father, Willem Springer, was a building contractor and worked, for example, on the restoration of the Lutheran church in Amsterdam. All of Cornelis' brothers would follow their father's choice of career or became architects. Cornelis was the only one who would choose a different direction even though his family had a formative influence on him. Especially his oldest brother Hendrik Springer, an architect who taught him the principles of perspective and architectural drawing, was important for his further development as an artist. It was Hendrik who first awakened the enthusiasm for representing architectural subjects in the young Cornelis. In 1835, after he was taught by Jacobus van der Stok (1795-1864) and Hendrick Gerrit Ten Cate (1803-1856) at the Amsterdam Academy, he studied under the auspices of Kasparus Karsen (1810-1896). By that time, Karsen was already a celebrated townscape painter. In the two years that Springer was his apprentice he would learn how to create fantasy city views combined with topographically correct elements. He would continue painting these so called capriccio's until the mid 1850's, after which he dedicated himself to the representation of existing cityscapes. But he would always permit himself to change for example the course of illumination if that was beneficial to the overall atmosphere of the painting.

The elegant building on the right of the composition is the town hall, the construction of which commenced in 1474. It was designed by an architect from Middelburg, Evert Spoorwater and took three years to complete. Because of the many changes to the building over the centuries it is not exactly known what the town hall looked like when it was completed. The graceful tower was added in the 16th Century and its carillon is considered to be one of the finest in The Netherlands.
Springer clearly found this area of Veere inspiring. Zeeland, the province in which Veere is located, has a strong tradition of local costumes. The women wore black chemises and black skirts, with large white caps and striking red coral necklaces. Men were usually dressed in black. The townspeople represented by Springer do not wear these folkloric costumes but are dressed in more colourful attire. Springer allowed himself this artistic freedom in order to be able to dot spots of colour around his composition making for a more lively and attractive whole.