From 1860 to 1865, he travelled throughout Europe, visiting Vienna, Paris, Dresden and Amsterdam, while doing errands for the famous art collector Pavel Tretyakov.

Apparently, it had been nearly impossible to find good, local, painters to do Eastern Orthodox Church icons and murals since Vilnius University was closed in 1831.

[2] Over the next few years, in addition to teaching, he created numerous religious works and portraits of well-known academics and politicians, together with a wide selection of genre scenes.

In 1897, he collaborated with the sculptor Matvey Chizhov and the architectural historian Vasiliy Griaznov to create a monument for Mikhail Muravyov in Vilnius.

By the time of his death, his art school had been attended by almost 4,000 students, 193 of whom graduated and went on to the Imperial Academy or other institutions in Russia and abroad.