American Art Collaborative

Painter and teacher; Munich, Germany and Cincinnati, Ohio. Born in Covington, Kentucky, he used the surname Decker until 1886. He began his career painting in midwestern Catholic churches. In 1870, Duveneck went to Munich, where he shared a studio with William Merritt Chase, studied with Wilhelm von Diez, and was influenced by the style of the Munich School. After travel to Venice and America, Duveneck opened his own school in Munich and in the Upper Bavarian village of Polling in 1878. His students, known as the "Duveneck Boys", included Otto Bacher, Julius Rolshoven, John Twachtman, and Herman Wessel. He married one of his students, Elizabeth Boott, in 1886. Following his wife's death in 1888, Duveneck returned to the United States to teach at the Cincinnati Art Academy.