After graduating from the Königliches Gymnasium [de], he was drafted for military service, but was rejected for "physical weaknesses".

He returned to Düsseldorf and, shortly before his father's death, he began to study art with him.

It was then he began private studies with his cousin, Wilhelm Sohn, which eventually determined his choice to be a portrait painter.

In 1888, he was appointed a juror for the Third International Art Exposition at the Glaspalast in Munich; together with his friends Robert Diez, Fritz Schaper and others.

He travelled throughout Italy and France and became an early member of the Deutscher Künstlerbund (Association of German Artists),[2] participating in their exhibition of 1906.