Early Life and Family Background Cornelis van Hardenbergh was born on 4 May 1755 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and baptized the following day. He grew up in a household defined by commerce rather than the arts; his father, Wouter Hendrik van Hardenbergh, was a wine merchant. While his family lived in the Bierstraat near the Wijnhaven, where ships from across Europe docked, the domestic environment was focused on trade. Of the seven child…