From childhood, he was acquainted with and a playmate of the Russian Grand Dukes and intimately connected to the Imperial family and its official hierarchy.

Willewalde's main works in this first period are the four huge canvases of the history of the Napoleonic wars of 1813–14, which are now found in the Alexander Hall of the Winter Palace: the battles of Kulm, Leipzig, Fère-Champenoise and Paris.

[6] In the second period of his career, Willewalde turned his attention to the Polish November uprising of 1831 (painting Grokhovo and Ostrolenka), the Hungarian revolution of 1848 (painting Surrender of Görgey at Világos, Advance into Kronstadt and others), the Crimean War (Siege of Sevastopol), and the Russian conquest of the Caucasus (Bashkadyklar, Battle of Kars, Shamil at Gunib, and Surrender of Shamil).

The painting titled The Oath of His Imperial Highness Prince Nikolai Alexandrovich at the Georgiev Throne Hall of the Winter Palace.

Almost the same faces appear in this painting as in the previous one, and the passage of time is evident in them, in particular the tired visage of the Queen Maria Alexandrovna, deeply ill since the death of her first son.

Willewalde's entire oeuvre was circumscribed by these demands: accuracy, depicting the truth as represented by the Russian authorities, finely finished, but never causing worry.

[5] Villevalde created a complex, multi, masterfully-painted group portrait of royalty, dignitaries, military leaders, representatives of all classes of the Russian state, from the ruling elite to ordinary citizens.

His monumental canvas of 1859 for the coronation of Czar Alexander II depicts around 200 people, 82 of them have a precise portrait likeness, making the product an invaluable source of iconography of the statesmen of the Russian Empire.

[2] The Imperial family and nobility appreciated Willewalde's amazing ability for accurate depiction, to put on canvas the beauty of the real world, of fabrics and jewelry.

[1] In 1859, Willewalde was awarded the Order of St Stanislaus, second degree, for the completion of his monumental canvas Triumphant Entry of Their Imperial Majesties into Moscow before their Sacred Coronation 17 August 1859.