Er studierte zuerst unter dem Marinemaler Rudolph Hardorff (1816–1907) in Hamburg, dann unter Adolph Schweitzer in Düsseldorf und unter Carl Oesterley. ###>He studied first under the marine painter R. Hardorff in Hamburg, then under C. Schweitzer in Düsseldorf and Carl Oesterley in Hamburg, and finally at the Berlin School of Art.