Gustav Wentzel
Gustav Wentzel (1859–1927) was a Norwegian painter. He was best known for interiors and domestic and rural scenes. His artistic style was associated with Naturalism and noted for accurate observations and attention to detail.
Also recorded as Nils Gustav Wentzel
Gustav Wentzel

Unknown photographer. Uploaded by User:Orland · From the autobiography of no:Kitty Wentzel (1868-1961) Fra mitt livs karusell (1960) · Public domain
- Born
- 1859. · Christiania.
- Died
- 1927. · Lillehammer.
- Nationality
- Norway.
- Occupation
- painter.
- Education
- Académie Julian, Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry and Académie Colarossi.
- Known for
- Burial of a sailor in the countryside in Norway.
- Honours
- Knight First Class of the Order of St. Olav.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Gustav Wentzel (1859–1927) was a Norwegian painter. He was best known for interiors and domestic and rural scenes. His artistic style was associated with Naturalism and noted for accurate observations and attention to detail.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Gustav Wentzel. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q3114975 · wikipedia · Gustav Wentzel
In this article
Biography
Biography
Gustav Wentzel studied at Académie Julian, Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry and Académie Colarossi. Residence is recorded at Oslo. Works named in the authority record are Burial of a sailor in the countryside in Norway. Work by Gustav Wentzel is recorded in the collections of Musée d'Orsay, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Trondheim art museum and Lillehammer Art Museum. Distinctions recorded are Knight First Class of the Order of St.
He was the eldest of seven children. His father, Jørgen, was a farm owner and salmakermester (someone who makes transport accessories, such as harnesses and seats). While still a boy, his father went bankrupt and his mother, Anne, opened a meat store to support the family. At the age of fifteen, he was apprenticed to a mason because he intended to become an architect. That same year, he began to take drawing lessons and decided to pursue art instead. From 1875 to 1878, he was a student at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry then, until 1880, studied painting with Knud Bergslien. His first, small, showing was at the bookstore owned by Albert Cammermeyer. He soon became part of a circle of artists that met at the studios of the sculptor, Rolf Skjefte. He took his first study trip in the summer of 1880, accompanied by Harald Bertrand and Jacob Lofthus. They visited Hardanger and Telemark. The following year, he went to Kvitsøy, supported by a grant from the Schäffers Legat, a fund for painters, sculptors and poets. On the advice of Andreas Aubert, he travelled to Valdres in 1882, where he painted landscapes and interiors; notably at the Hegge Stave Church. He was in Paris in 1883 and again in 1884, with another grant from the Schäffers Legat, and studied with William Bouguereau at the Académie Julian. In 1888 and 1889, he was back in Paris on a state scholarship, studying with Léon Bonnat and Alfred Philippe Roll at the Académie Colarossi. While there, he met and married the writer, Christiane Marie Bætzmann (known as "Kitty"), daughter of Frederik Bætzmann, the Paris correspondent for Aftenposten. She had been studying at the Académie, but never painted professionally. They returned to Norway and settled in an outlying neighbourhood of Christiania. Later, they moved to Asker Municipality, where they became close friends of Hulda and Arne Garborg. In 1901, a financial windfall enabled them and their two young children to travel to Italy, but a planned stay in Paris did not come to fruition. Upon their return in 1902, they settled in Vågå Municipality. The following year, he sent eighty-five works to an art auction, but twelve were never sold and the others were bought cheaply, which plunged him into doubts about his chosen profession. Despite this failure, and his continued depression, he was awarded the Order of St. Olav in 1908. At home, however, things went less well. That same year, Kitty took their youngest son with her to the United States, where she worked as a governess. By 1910, their marriage was apparently one in name only and he began teaching at a painting school operated by Harriet Backer. She helped him receive a grant that enabled him to spend those difficult times in Munich. He returned to Norway in 1913. By that time, his family was living in Lom Municipality. He visited them often and opened his last studio near there, in 1919. Although he had to produce low-quality paintings in large quantities to pay his bills, he was generally happy there and well-respected by the locals. In 1927, he went to the hospital in Lillehammer for the treatment of an oral inflammation and died there, of pneumonia, shortly after. Kitty spent much of the rest of her life promoting his works and wrote a biography of him in 1956. Their homes in Lom have been preserved and are partly open to the public. In 1999, a major exhibit was held commemorating Wentzel and the architect Bjarne Tøien (1899–1963), who is also associated with Lom.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1859
Gustav Wentzel born at Christiania.
1927
Gustav Wentzel died at Lillehammer.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Oslo.
Residences
Christiania.
Birth place
Lillehammer.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Gustav Wentzel”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q3114975: Gustav Wentzel
Unverified · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Norsk nettleksikon. Gustav Wentzel. Store norske leksikon.
- 2.(Nils) Gustav Wentzel (kulturnett akershus)
- 3.Ingebjørg Ydstie's hovedoppgave (thesis), 1995
- 4.Kitty Wentzel 1956; pg.43 ff
- 5.Kitty Wentzel (1960); 2010-utgaven pgs.113-116
- 6.Kitty Wentzel (1956), pg.112
- 7.Budstikka; 9. October 2010
Bibliography printed in the source article · 3
- Kitty Wentzel. Gustav Wentzel. Gyldendal, 1956. Foreword by Leif Østby. Ny utgave: Lom 2009
- Kitty Wentzel. Fra mitt livs karusell. Cappelen, 1960. Ny utgave: Lom 2010
- Leif Østby. "Gustav Wentzel". I: Norsk kunstnerleksikon, Vol.4. Universitetsforlaget, 1986.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedauthority file
Partially resolvedauthority record
Unverified
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
18,705 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Gustav RichterArtist
- Gustav SchönleberArtist
- Gustav von FranckArtist
- Gustav WendlingArtist
- Gustav WertheimerArtist
- Gustav WunderwaldArtist
- Gustave BaumannArtist
- Gustave BoulangerArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Gustav Wentzel?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.