Painter. He received notoriety as an American portrait, genre, figure, and landscape painter and art educator, who had studied in Cincinnati before attending the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Germany in 1870. In 1871 he received a medal from the Bavarian Royal Academy. Establishing his international reputation very early in his career, he held his first solo exhibition in Munich in 1873. His 1872 "Whistling Boy," which is on exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum, and his "Old Woman" at Metropolitan Museum in New York City are characteristic of his portrait studies. Born the son of a German immigrant Bernhard Decker, he was a one-year-old when his father died of cholera. His widowed mother remarried Joseph Duveneck, hence he was given that surname, which was legally changed years later at the time of his marriage. He studied under a local painter before crossing the river to Cincinnati, Ohio to study art. In 1869 he went to Europe for a year to continue his studies, and upon returning to the United States, became a part of the younger American artists that overthrew the established Hudson River School style of art. His first successful American art exhibition was in 1875 at the Boston Art Show, where his paintings created a sensation with the critics' reviews of the vigorous brush-strokes, dark rich colors, and forceful appearance of his personality. By age 27, he was a celebrated artist with numerous students, which were known as "Duveneck Boys." Instead of settling in Boston to paint portraits on commissions, he opened an art school in Germany in 1878. Although considered by many as a talented genius, he could be lackadaisical at times. Considered to be an American expatriate artist, he sent his paintings to the United States for showings while residing in Europe. In 1880 Duveneck was elected to the Society of American Artists. He had an exhibit at Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, England and the Royal Society of Painters-Etchers and Engravers in London, where he was a member from 1881 until 1889. Many critics compared his work to his colleagueJames McNeill Whistler. In 1886 he married Boston artist Elizabeth Lyman Boott, and the couple had a son. His portrait of his wife in her wedding dress, which was painted in 1888 and exhibited in the Paris Salon, is on exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Using lighter hues of paint, he painted numerous Italian landscapes in addition to etchings on paper. He and his wife resided in Villa Castellani in his wife's adopted hometown of Florence, Italy. His wife died of pneumonia in 1888, thus he returned still grieving to the United States in 1889 to teach art. For a time, his work declined and he was withdrawn. His son went to live with his wife's uncle and stable family in Massachusetts, yet he managed to spend time with him. From 1890, he taught at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, becoming a regular faculty member in 1900. In 1906 he was elected to the National Academy of Design. He traveled between Europe and the United States, and started painting nudes for the first time. In 1915 an entire room full of his paintings was on exhibition at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, and receiving much recognition, he was awarded a Special Gold Medal of Honor. Although much more withdrawn from the public in his later years, he was often asked to judge at art competitions. Becoming wealthy, he lived a quiet life until his death. Most of his paintings were left to the Cincinnati Art Museum. Giving much insight into his life, the 1995 essay, "Frank Duveneck & Elizabeth Boott Duveneck: An American Romance," was written by Carol M. Osborne to be used in a catalogue for an exhibition of the two artists' work in 1996 at Owen Gallery in New York City.