Otto Bache was a Danish Realist painter. Many of his works depict key events in Danish history.

At age eleven he received a dispensation and was admitted into the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, studying under Wilhelm Marstrand, among others.

In 1866, he received the Academy's travel grant and went to Paris and later to Italy. His stay in Paris had a particularly deep impact on his work, turning it in a direction characterized by more freedom, more colour, stronger light, and broader scope. Upon his return in 1868, he was married.

He was named a Commander in the Order of the Dannebrog and later was awarded the Dannebrogordenens Hæderstegn.

He received early recognition as a portrait painter but he also showed great interest in painting animal motifs, gradually also turning to genre works and history painting.