Niels Vinding Dorph, painter and illustrator, was born in Hadersley, Denmark on September 19, 1862. He took art courses at the Kunstakademy in Copenhagen from 1879 to 1884, followed by studies at the studios of artists Laurits Tuxen and Peder Severin Kroyer. In 1886 he took his first trip of many trips abroad to study Old Master works and become familiar with the contemporary art scenes in England and Italy. He later taught at the Akademy. In 1900 he married painter Bertha Herlich, herself a celebrated artist and the two of them would collaborate on several projects, including founding the School of Art and Design for Women. 

Dorph participated in his first exhibition in Charleville, France, in 1884; subsequent participations included the years 1885 to 1898, and a memorial retrospective of his work was held there in 1932; the International Art Exhibition, Berlin, 1891; Chicago World Art Exposition, 1893; with the Glasgow School Artists of Denmark, 1895; the Artists' Studies exhibition in Charlottenborg, 1896; Copenhagen City Hall, 1901; Berlin and Munich exhibitions, 1906; Budapest Museum of Fine Arts International Exhibition, 1906; Works by Modern Danish Artists, Brighton, Eng., 1912; the Baltic Exhibition, Malmo, 1914; the Brooklyn Museum, 1927; the Kunsthallen, Helsinki, 1928; Art Forum, Italy, 1929; among others. Awards incuded the Eckersberg Medal and the Thorvaldsen Medal, among others.

A writer as well, Dorph wrote two articles while still attending the Akademy on the art world for the Norwegian publication Dagsavisen 1883, and The Spectator in 1886, and in 1899 he founded the periodical Art, for which he served as editor.

Dorph died in Sollerad, Denmark on September 21, 1931.