The product of a Midwestern upbringing, Theodore Wendel (1859-1932) had two years of study at the University of Cincinnati School of Design and then continued his art studies in Munich. In 1897, he enrolled in Frank Duveneck's class at Polling, Bavaria and studied in Italy for several years as one of the "Duveneck Boys," spending winters in Florence and summers in Venice. He returned to America in 1881 and then went to Giverny, France in 1887 and became one of a small group of painters who were close to Claude Monet and the French impressionist movement. Returning to the United States in 1889, he taught at Cowles Art School and at Wellesley College until his marriage in 1897.

The couple took an extended trip to France and Italy and then settled in 1899 in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He lived there until his death in 1932, and his work was basically forgotten until John I. Baur organized an exhibition of his paintings in 1976 at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

Studied: McMicken School of Art (where he befriended DeCamp); at Giverny, summers of 1886-87. Member: Guild of Boston Artists. He became one of the “Duveneck Boys” when he studied with the master in Munich, Florence and Venice in 1878-80. Awards: Sesnan medal, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1909; silver medal, P. -P. Expo., San Francisco, 1915. Work: Landscape, Cincinnati Art Museum; Winter at Ipswich, Pennsylvania Academy, Philadelphia. Awards: Medal, P.-P. Expo., San Francisco, 1915. Died in 1932, Ipswich, MA.