Career
He was the illegitimate child of the local sexton"s daughter and spent most of his youth working as a shepherd, but quickly caught up on his education when the opportunity arose. First, he went to Lübz, completing an apprenticeship in carpentry, then found work as a journeyman in Rostock, where he began taking drawing lessons. In 1866, he planned to emigrate to America, but his plans fell through and he became a student of Eduard Lürssen at the Bauakademie in Berlin.
The following year, his talent was recognized by the art historian Friedrich Eggers and, at Eggers request, he moved to the Prussian Academy of Artist
From 1871 to 1873, he worked as an assistant on the staffs of Rudolf Siemering and Christian Genschow. In 1893, he was appointed a "Grand Ducal Professor".
In 1901 he closed his studio and stopped accepting large projects. His grave in the Alter-Zwölf-Apostel-Kirchhof is unmarked.
