Frederick Rondel

Rondel was born in Paris, France, in 1826.^[1] He was first tutored in art by Théodore Gudin, who served as a marine painter in King Louis Philippe I's court.^[1][2] He was subsequently tutored by Auguste Jugelet, who was also a student of Gudin.^[1] Rondel moved to the United States in 1855^[3] and settled in Boston; there, he painted and produced lithographs.^[4] In 1857, his work was exhibited in New York City at the National Academy of Design;^[1] Rondel moved to New York near the end of 1859 and became a member of the National Academy in 1861.^[1][4] He also taught art; he tutored the well-known landscape painter Winslow Homer for a short time.^[5][6] Later, he trained the artists Charles Mielatz^[7] and F. Benedict Herzog.^[8]

Over the next few years, Rondel moved to various cities while maintaining his studio in New York, including Boston; South Malden, Massachusetts; and Poughkeepsie, New York. He also took extended trips to Europe in 1862 and San Francisco in 1875.^[1][4] He moved to Poughkeepsie by January 1862 and began teaching art to female students there, holding the position of professor of painting at the Cottage Hill Seminary.^[9] While there, he was commissioned by the merchant Matthew Vassar to paint a series of works depicting three of Vassar's homes, two of which were located in Poughkeepsie.^[4][9] He also befriended the painter Caroline Morgan Clowes there, whom he mentored and collaborated with up until the later years of his life.^[9]

Rondel returned to New York City in 1868, where he continued to paint and exhibit his works, before relocating to New Rochelle, New York, in 1871.^[1][4] By 1892, Rondel had moved to Philadelphia, where he died and was buried in November of that year.^[3][9] He was eulogized in the Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle on December 1, with his obituary reporting that "his paintings are held in high repute".^[9] Rondel's son, Fredrick Rondel Jr., also became an artist.^[10]

Rondel was primarily a landscape painter. He was a member of the Hudson River School movement and frequently depicted local areas such as the Hudson River and the Adirondack Mountains.^[3][4] Beyond landscapes, Rondel also produced genre paintings, still lifes, portraits, and marine paintings.^[3] Rondel's works have been exhibited in, among other museums and galleries, the Mint Museum,^[11] the Butler Institute of American Art,^[4] and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.^[1]

Media related to Frederick Rondel at Wikimedia Commons