[1] In 1846, he entered the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied with Maxim Vorobiev and Bogdan Willewalde.

[1] For an exhibition there in 1857, he had his first critical success with "Demyan's Fish Soup", based on the fable by Ivan Krylov.

From 1858 to 1859, he worked at the Academy as an assistant to Ivan Vistelius (1802–1872), who had been a tutor to the young James McNeill Whistler during his stay in Saint Petersburg.

[3] In 1860, his work, "The Tea Warehouse at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair" earned him a gold medal and the title of "Artist", first-class.

In the 1870s, his health began to decline from a chronic lung condition, possibly a form of tuberculosis, and he was often too weak to work for long periods.