 Beginning in 1791, he worked in Bonn, where he painted portraits of Elector Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria, minister Ferdinand August von Spiegel zum Desenberg, and the Count of Waldstein.Afterwards, he and his brother undertook an educational journey to Rome, Munich and Riga, which was financed by Archduke Maximilian

In 1800, he married Helene Marie Zoege von Manteuffel (1774-1842); from a noble Baltic-German family with roots in the 14th century.They had three children together.