He was born in
Frankfurt am Main. On completing his schooling, Scholderer went to the
Städel academy of arts in 1849, where he remained until 1851. Among his teachers were the art historian
Johann David Passavant and the painter
Jakob Becker. Subsequently, Scholderer established himself in Städel as a freelance painter. During this period his friendship with
Victor Müller began; Scholderer became his brother-in-law in 1868, when Müller married his sister, Ida Scholderer. Through Müller, Scholderer became acquainted with the works of
Gustave Courbet. Scholderer made several short study trips to
Paris between 1857 and 1858, where he became friends with
Henri Fantin-Latour and
Édouard Manet, whose influence can be seen in his subsequent work. Fantin-Latour depicted Scholderer in his picture
Studio aux Batignolles . Starting from 1858, Scholderer worked and lived predominantly in
Kronberg in Taunus, where his colleagues included
Anton Burger,
Peter Burnitz and
Louis Eysen; he was close to the Kronberger painter colony. In 1866, Scholderer established himself in
Düsseldorf and made friends with
Hans Thoma. With Thoma, Scholderer went in 1868 to Paris and returned to Germany only shortly before the outbreak of the
French-German War. First Scholderer established himself in
Munich, renewing his friendship with
Wilhelm Leibl and becoming one of the artists of the
Leibl-Kreis (Leibl circle). At the beginning of 1871 he went to
London and worked there till the autumn of 1899, he married his wife Luise there in 1871. After 1899, Scholderer returned to his hometown of
Frankfurt, where he died at the age of almost 68 years on 22 January 1902. The couple's only child, born in
Putney was the noted
bibliographer (Julius) Victor Scholderer (1880–1971). Otto Scholderer's art, initially dominated by
landscapes, later consisted primarily of
portraits and
still lifes. The important connection between the
romantic period and the
Impressionists is evident in his work. == Works (selection) ==