Two years later, he took a study trip to Paris with some friends, where he met Camille Corot and Gustave Courbet.

On his return, he married Anna Johanna Auguste Küster, the daughter of Kronberg's most prominent doctor.

In 1861, he and Jakob Fürchtegott Dielmann (an old friend from his days at the Städelschule) founded the Kronberg Artists' Colony, where he remained until his death.

In 1882 he married again, this time to a former student, Pauline Fresenius, who was slightly more than thirty years his junior.

His paintings sold very well and, in the area around Kronberg, it was considered a sign of good taste to have a "Burger" in one's home.