Elisabeth Wandel was a student of the artists Carl Thomsen and P. S. Krøyer. She painted both landscape motifs and interiors, but in the 1890s especially also detailed portraits, several of them made with pastel. In 1871, she married the merchant Oscar Wandel, who was a dedicated art collection and patron, and their home became a gathering point for several of the artists of the time. Together they had a son, Sigurd Wandel, who became an artist himself.

Elisabeth Wandel exhibited at Charlottenborg for several years, and she also participated in other exhibitions such as the World’s fair in Paris, 1889, and Chicago, 1893, as well as the Women’s Exhibition (Kvindernes Udstilling fra Fortid og Nutid) and the Women Artists’ Retrospective Exhibition (Kvindelige Kunstneres Retrospektive Udstilling) in Copenhagen.