He studied first under his father Jean Jacques Bury,[1] who was a goldsmith and professor in the Academy of Design in Hanau, and with Anton Wilhelm Tischbein.

Bury's role model was, easily recognizable, the Raphael teacher Perugino,[4] but also Fra Bartolommeo and Andrea Mantegna.

It was through Goethe that he met his second mentor in Rome, Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar.

[5] Due to the occupation of Rome by French troops, he was forced to return to Hanau.

When this failed, he went to Kassel and Dresden and finally settled in Berlin, where he was presented to the Prussian royal family.