Dommersen was born at the end of 1859 in London as the son of the Dutch fine art painter Pieter Cornelis Dommersen and Anna Petronella Synja. His parents had, just before his birth moved from the Netherlands to London, England. His uncle, Cornelis Christiaan Dommersen, was also a painter in the Netherlands. It is possible that when his father received British nationality that they changed their family name to the more English sounding Dommersen.

Dommersen painted between 1875 and 1927 genre pieces, landscapes, marine scenes, village- and town-scenes of quality. His best known works are the European villages and towns along rivers and canals. He painted mostly in the Netherlands and England but visited also, often with his father and uncle, Belgium, France and Italy. His work such as view on the Canal Grande in Venice, river views in the Thames and Windsor Castle are well known. At some stage he lived in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, which was strategically placed for his travels to Europe. Dommersen died in 1927 in London.