Cornelis Vreedenburgh was born in Woerden on August 25, 1880 and was a loyal follower of the Impressionism of The Hague School all his life. His characteristic style of short, often colourful strokes and highlights, has a luminous feel to it which is totally his own. His father, who painted himself and had a large painting company, gave him his first drawing lessons when he was very young man. Later on he went to study with the famous artists Willem Tholen and Paul Arntzenius. Vreedenburgh had a love for water landscapes and together with his former tutor and friend Tholen, he would often travel outdoors near waterways and rivers to paint.
After his marriage to the painter M.Schotel they spent some time together in the, in those days unknown, village of Saint Tropez in the south of France. Back in Holland they settled in the small town of Hattem, to move to the “Gooi” and the town of Laren later on. Vreedenburgh would return to Amsterdam, the city that would always captivate him, on a regular basis to paint the canals and “grachtenpanden”. During a study trip to Palestine and a commissioned trip to the “Holy Land” of Israël Vreedenburgh made a large number of sketches and studies in watercolour and oil paint. In 1937 the then Queen Wilhelmina bought two of his paintings, “Cows in the Meadow” and “The Prins Hendrikkade in Amsterdam”. The last mentioned piece was stolen in the Second World War by the German forces and has never been seen since.
Vreedenburgh was a member of the artist society “Pulchri Studio” in The Hague, “Lucas” in Laren and “Arti et Amicitae” in Amsterdam. He won numerous medals for his work during his lifetime, like a silver medal in San Francisco, the Willem Collenprice at Art et Amicitiae and a bronze medal in Arnhem. Cornelis Vreedenburgh died in Laren on June 27, 1946.

Cornelis Vreedenburgh (1880-1946) terug in Woerden, 25 Mar. - 25 Jun. 2000, Stadsmuseum Woerden, The Netherlands

Work by Cornelis Vreedenburgh is represented in the collection of diverse major Dutch museums, among others the Singer Museum in Laren, Centraal Museum Utrecht and Stadsmuseum Woerden.