Cornelis Springer, 1817 Amsterdam – 1891 Hilversum ROMANTIC... Lot 765

Cornelis Springer, 1817 Amsterdam – 1891 Hilversum ROMANTIC VIEW OF A CATHEDRAL IN LATE LIGHT Oil on canvas. 81 x 99 cm. Ligatured monogram "CS" in the lower right corner of the dark masonry. Verso on the stretcher sticker "RIJKSMUSEUM TWENTHE, ESCHEDE / TENTONSTELLING : ROMANTISCHE SCHOOL. / Signs: Cornelis Springer / Stadgezicht." Most imposingly, the building forms of a Gothic cathedral tower up. The building complex stands slightly elevated, lively activity enlivens the foreground with citizens and peasants, women with white headscarves or with a horse-drawn cart. A raised terrace completes the depiction on the right. The romantic character of an old town situation is determined by the winding alleyways leading to the light at the back. In the centre of the picture, the portico of a western façade is shown with a nave and rose window rising above it; on the left, however, medieval town buildings and sacred walls obscure the view of the overall façade. The mighty stump of an unfinished south tower is surmounted by the high Gothic pointed tower with pointed arches and crowning finial. Thus the depiction poses a riddle, as is so often the case in Springer's architectural pictures, for it is hardly possible to locate the cathedral and the city precisely. And as elsewhere, an imaginative romanticism leads the scepter of the pictorial direction here. However, individual elements can be interpreted like set pieces: The two towers are modelled on Antwerp Cathedral, but the placement does not correspond to the conditions there. The densely packed buildings to the left, hugging the imposing church building, with the rounded corner, houses with projecting gables, staggered windows and doors and a roofed group of crosses, convey romantic memories of medieval city situations such as we find in Strasbourg, but also in Flanders and elsewhere. Springer's extensive travels, which took him from the Netherlands to Belgium, to Lower Saxony, Westphalia, Bremen, Lübeck or Schleswig-Holstein, left an extensive body of work with reminiscences from all these stays. As arbitrarily as he has compiled the architectural elements, city and street situations from the most diverse areas, the more detailed the fine-brush rendering appears, as if we were actually dealing with a historically authenticated veduta. The lighting, too, which is concentrated here on the corner of the building on the left of the picture and shows a warm sunlight of a late afternoon, corresponds entirely to the spirit of the "Theatrical Romanticism" of the time. Among other teachers, Springer studied with Jacobus van der Stok (1794-1864). This painter had also already developed the method of reusing landscape set pieces. Springer, however, soon took up the subject of architectural painting, inspired by his brother, the architect Henry Springer (1768-1842). Paintings by his hand soon became internationally known through heliogravures, then also through color prints. Collectors all over the world saw in these works, as it were, a condensed picture of medieval Europe, which explains the worldwide success of the painter. But his contemporary importance was also ultimately documented by the highest price achieved for a "View from Enkhuizen" at Sotheby's 2006 in Amsterdam, at 1.1 million euros. A. R. (12906613) (1) (11) Cornelis Springer, 1817 Amsterdam - 1891 Hilversum ROMANTIC EVENING VIEW OF A CATHEDRAL Oil on canvas. 81 x 99 cm. Monogrammed "CS" in ligature on lower left in dark walls. Stretcher on the reverse with label: "RIJKSMUSEUM TWENTHE, ESCHEDE /TENTONSTELLING : ROMANTISCHE SCHOOL. / Signs: Cornelis Springer / Stadgezicht."" Collectors from across the world regarded these works as a compressed image of medieval Europe, which explains the painter's global success. His enduring importance was last illustrated when one of his works titled "View from Enkhuizen" achieved a premium price of 1.1 million Euros at Sotheby's in Amsterdam in 2006.