Elias Pieter van Bommel trained at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and with the slightly older Amsterdam landscape painter George Andries Roth. Whereas he started by painting landscapes, influenced by the work of his teacher, he later switched to finely detailed townscapes populated with figures. Cities such as Rotterdam, Dordrecht and Amsterdam served as sources of inspiration, and he also made study trips through Belgium, Germany, France and Italy.