There he honed his craft for three years, getting to know the art of the Nazarene movement, and making a living from portrait painting.

He also copied old masters in the city's galleries and painted portraits of Austrian officers of Serbian descent.

In 1834 he left Italy for Novi Sad, then he went to Sremski Karlovci, where he made a portrait of Metropolitan Stefan Stratimirović.

From there he moved to Timișoara in 1840 and later settled in Arad, where his relatives lived and where spent the rest of his life.

Nikola's successors, son Dušan and his two grandsons Stevan and Ivan were also prominent painters.