[5] In 1873, he shifted into Düsseldorf school of painting and became student of Karl Müller and Eduard von Gebhardt, and was also a member of the artists association Malkasten.
[6] In 1883, on the recommendation of August Becker, Schmichen, almost simultaneously with Karl Rudolf Sohn, was invited into England to paint portraits of the British aristocracy.
[10][11][note 3][note 4] A Russian writer Vsevolod Solovyov reported his impression of the portraits of the Theosophical mahatmas as follows: "Subsequently, when I had thoroughly examined these portraits, I found in them much that was unsatisfactory from an artistic point of view; but their life-likeness was remarkable, and the eyes of the two mysterious strangers gazed straight at the spectator, their lips could almost have been said to move... Schmiechen had painted two beautiful young men.
Mahatma Koot Hoomi, clad in a graceful sort of robe, trimmed with fur, had a tender, almost feminine face and gazed sweetly with a pair of charming light eyes.
The fiery black eyes of the tall Morya fixed themselves sternly and piercingly upon one, and it was impossible to tear oneself away from them.