However, he did not experience the same level of success as Jens Juel and Nicolai Abildgaard, his contemporaries, and in 1790 he committed suicide.

He travelled to Rome by way of Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Paris and visited Dresden and Berlin on his way back.

After his return to Denmark, he became a member of the art academy but was passed over for the post of professor by Jens Juel in 1784 and then again for the position of painter to the royal court by Vigilius Eriksen.

The decorations, murals and overdoors, presented scenes from the environs of Dronningegård, de Coninck's country house north of Copenhagen.

However, he suffered from his feeling belittled and defeated by his peers and in 1790 he committed suicide by jumping out of a window in his home.