Theodor Horschelt (16 March 1829, Munich – 3 April 1871, Munich) was a German painter who specialized in scenes from the Caucasian Wars.^[1]

Theodor Horschelt was the son of ballet master, Friedrich Horschelt. His older brother, Friedrich, was a portrait painter. Beginning in 1846, he went to the Academy of Fine Arts Munich where he was a student of the history painter, Joseph Anton Rhomberg, but left him after a short period and attempted to learn drawing on his own. He initially focused on scenes from nature and imaginative portrayals of the Caucasian Wars.

He soon took direction from Professor Hermann Anschütz, learning precision and clarity of outline. After leaving the academy, he studied with more enthusiasm in the studios of Albrecht and Franz Adam and Julius Lange. He eventually decided to devote himself exclusively to war paintings, and began by doing sketches of horses at the Royal Stables in Stuttgart.

In 1853, he made two study trips; one to Paris with Friedrich Wilhelm Hackländer and one to Spain with him and Christian Friedrich von Leins, where he mostly wandered about on horseback. He separated from his companions when they crossed to North Africa and rode on alone to Algiers. On his return to Munich in 1854, he painted several canvases on Arabian themes for King William. These works made it possible for him to take his long-planned trip to the Caucasus.^[2]