He was born to Ferdinand Theodor von Gebhardt (1803–1869),
Provost and member of the
Consistorial Council in
Reval, and his wife, Wilhelmine, née von Glehn (1808–1880). He graduated from the local
gymnasium at sixteen, and enrolled at the
Imperial Academy of Arts in
Saint Petersburg, where he studied for three years. He then spent two years travelling, spending some time in
Karlsruhe, where he took classes at the
Academy of Fine Arts. He arrived in
Düsseldorf in 1860, and became a student of
Wilhelm Sohn, who gave him such wholehearted encouragement that he decided to stay there. He settled on a street which was the home of several other artists and their studios. In 1872, he married a local woman, Klara Jungnick (1851–1897). The following year, he was named a professor at the Kunstakademie. His best-known students included
Otto Boyer and
Carl Schmitz-Pleis. On the occasion of his seventieth birthday, in 1908, the in
Berlin held a large exhibit of his works. At the
Große Berliner Kunstausstellung of 1918, he was awarded a gold medal. Not long before his death he became an
Ehrenbürger (Honorary Citizen) of Düsseldorf. He was interred at the . His home and studio at Rosenstraße Nr. 41 became a retirement home for the Mutual Aid Association of the . Streets were named after him in
Essen and
Wuppertal. ==Work==