Footnotes

PROVENANCE:
Ex collection J.C. van Pappelendam, Amsterdam, purchased directly from the artist, June 18th 1860, sold for Dfl. 325
Private collection, UK

LITERATURE:
W. Laanstra et al, Cornelis Springer, 1817-1891, Utrecht, 1984, p.125, nr.60-9 (not illustrated)

In the beginning of his career, Springer drew and painted mostly fantasy cityscapes, based on sketches he made during his trips abroad. A striking building is sometimes still to be recognized, but is usually placed in an imaginary environment. From the 1850s however, Springer focused on producing more topographically accurate cityscapes, especially Dutch cities with a rich historical background.

Springer visited Zaltbommel, a 1000 year old fortified town situated on the banks of the river Waal in the province of Gelderland, between 31 August and 2 September, 1859. During this stay he made several pencil sketches, including the tower of St. Martin, the Nonnenstraat with Maarten van Rossum house (now a museum) and also two drawings of the Van Balveren Chapel at St. Martin's Church, both dated September 1, 1859. Both drawings were sold at auction in 1891 and are now in the collection of the Museum Stadskasteel in Zaltbommel.¹ One of these drawings, taken from southwest of St. Martin with a part of the church (see illustration) formed the basis for the present lot, which was commissioned a year later by the Amsterdam art dealer J.C. van Pappelendam². Springer received the sum of Dfl. 325, at that time a considerable amount for a painting of this size.

Springer clearly recognised both the artistic and commercial importance of the motif, and a few months later he produced a very similar watercolour of the same subject, which he sold in 1861 to a Dordrecht collector called Verhegge, for the sum of Dfl. 200.

As Springer's commercial success increased, he started from about 1860 to use a wax seal on the reverse of his paintings-as with the present lot-by way of confirming their authenticity and guarding against his imitators.

¹Auction Fred. Muller, Amsterdam, 1 December 1891, lot 88, together with nine other pencil sketches of Zaltbommel
²J.C. van Pappelendam was Springer's largest buyer among art dealers, purchasing 63 paintings between 1856 and 1872

We are grateful to Willem Laanstra for his assistance in cataloguing this lot, and for confirming the attribution to Cornelis Springer on the basis of photographs.

The work lot will be included and illustrated in colour in the forthcoming oeuvre-catalogue Cornelis Springer 1817-1891, catalogue chapter 1, nr.60-9, now being prepared by Willem Laanstra, to be published in 2017 to mark the bi-centenary of Springer's birth.