The Dutch artist Cornelia Van der Hart (1851-1940) was born in Sumatra and educated at the Academy of Arts in The Hague, where she lived and worked. A versatile artist, she worked as a painter, graphic artist, illustrator, etcher, lithographer, woodcarver and book cover designer.
From 1898 to 1909 she designed bookbindings for the publisher H.J.W. Becht in Amsterdam. A number of her ornamental designs were featured on the covers of books by Scandinavian writers, such as Selma Lagerlöf, and of the novels of Top Naeff and other Dutch female writers.