Frank Duveneck (American, 1848 to 1919)
Born Frank Decker (he adopted his stepfather’s name), Duveneck left Covington, Kentucky in 1870 to study at the Royal Academy of Munich. There he excelled as a student, producing realistic portraits characterized by the expressive bravura brush technique. In these works, the sitter was usually bathed in light while the background remained dark. Duveneck soon began to teach, his students included William Meritt Chase, Otto Bacher, Joseph DeCamp, John Twatchman and Theodore Wendel. In 1879 he moved to Florence and many of his students, known as the “Duveneck Boys” followed. There he met and married one of his students, Elizabeth Boott. Following her death in 1888, Duveneck moved back to the U.S. where he continued to teach in Boston and Cincinnati.
Information courtesy of Skinner Inc., May 2006.
Frank Duveneck was one of Cincinnati’s most highly regarded artist’s and teachers. Given his extensive teaching career at the Cincinnati Art Academy, his loose brushwork and manner of portraiture was often copied by his students.
Information courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc., October 2008.