Frank Duveneck
(1848-1919)

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Frank Duveneck was an American figure and portrait painter born in Covington Kentucky. Duveneck, born with the name Frank Decker, was raised by a German, working-class family. Duveneck’s father died when he was a small child and his mother remarried, changing the family name from Decker to Duveneck.

The family relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio where Duveneck worked for German artisans who decorated Catholic churches and studied under the painter Johann Schmitt.

Duveneck showed great skill in the arts at a young age and was prompted to study in Germany. From 1870 to 1873 Duveneck enrolled in the Royal Academy in Munich and studied under Wilhelm von Diez and Wilhelm Leibl. Duveneck was praised as a student, winning many painting awards for his mastery of the “bravura brush” technique. Duveneck concentrated on portrait paintings, which were frequently exhibited in Munich.

Along with William Merritt Chase, John Henry Twachtman and Walter Shirlaw, Duveneck became an influential part of a group of young, American artists who broke away from the popular Hudson River School.

Duveneck returned to Cincinnati for only a few years before returning to Munich as a teacher. Duveneck opened his own schools in Munich and in a small Bavarian village named Polling. Several American painters saw Duveneck’s portrait work and followed Duveneck to Munich. Duveneck’s loyal students were known as the “Duveneck Boys”, and included Otto Bacher, Joseph deCamp and Theodore Wendel.

In 1886 Duveneck married a student in his school named Elizabeth Boott. When Boot died from pneumonia Duveneck became less active as an artist, except for a monumental sculpture he made in his wife’s honor. Duveneck spent some time in France and Italy but returned to the United States, where he spent the last years of his life teaching at the Cincinnati Fine Arts Academy.

Duveneck’s paintings can be seen in major museums across the United States. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Cincinnati Art Museum are only a few of the many collections that house Duveneck’s work. Do you think you own a painting by Frank Duveneck? Contact us. We are the Frank Duveneck experts.