Ferdinand Springer left the milieu of his origins, that of a family of scientific publishers, very early in order to complete his artistic training first in Zurich, then in Italy and later in Paris, where he settled in 1928. As Ferdinand Springer did not directly experience the violence of the rise of Nazism, he was not part of the great wave of exiles which occurred in 1933. The success of his stay in the USA (see under "Oil paintings") allowed him to buy land in Grasse (southern France) where he had a house built which remained in place up until his death. Set in a landscape resembling that of Tuscany, the house, according to him, had the merit of being located close to Italy.