Van Baarsel was born on November 15, 1761 in Utrecht. His father was Cornelis van Baarsel Sr., a grocer from Utrecht. At a young age, Van Baarsel moved with his family to Amsterdam, where his father opened a grocery store. There, the young Cornelis was also trained as a grocer, but he felt out of place and could not use his creativity. To find his true calling, Van Baarsel has had a number of different jobs. He has worked in a cloth shop and at a drugstore. However, because he was always drawing and not paying attention to the shop, Van Baarsel was fired by both his employers. He then spent a number of years at sea before devoting himself entirely to drawing.

After Van Baarsel's time at sea, he returned to Amsterdam and married his childhood sweetheart Dorothea Veelwaard. In 1791 they had a son, Willem Cornelis van Baarsel. His wife Dorothea was related to the well-known engraver Daniel Veelwaard. Her family recognized his talent and urged him to retrain as an engraver. Then in 1789 he started working as an independent engraver and specialized mainly in engraving maps. His studio was probably located on the Haarlemmerdijk.

Under the reign of King Lodewijk, Van Baarsel was appointed first engraver at the Depot General of the War in Amsterdam and then The Hague. After the departure of King Lodewijk around 1810, Van Baarsel left for Paris to work as an engraver at the war depot there. In 1815 he returned to Amsterdam to work as an engraver for private individuals.

Van Baarsel trained his son Willem Cornelis van Baarsel as an engraver and from 1817 the work from Van Baarsel's studio was provided with the signature 'C. van Baarsel & Son.’ After the death of his father in 1826, Willem Cornelis continued his studio under the name W. C. Van Baarsel. In addition to his son, Van Baarsel also regularly worked with Cornelis Covens and sons, and P. N. Tuyn.