[3] In 1850, Ge gave up his career in science and enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg.

In 1857, he graduated from the Academy where he received a gold medal for The Witch of Endor Invoking the Spirit of the Prophet Samuel.

In 1861, Ge painted The Last Supper using a photograph of Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen as an image for his central figure of Christ.

[1] In 1864, Ge returned to Florence and painted Herzen's portrait along with the Messengers of the Resurrection and the first version of Christ on the Mount of Olives.

In 1870, Ge again returned to Saint Petersburg where he turned to Russian history for subject matter.

(1892) was not admitted to the annual Academy of Arts exhibition; The Calvary (Golgotha) (1893) remained unfinished; The Crucifixion (1894) was banned by Tsar Alexander III.Ge died on his farm in 1894.

Ge had bequeathed all of his works to his Swiss benefactress, Béatrice de Vattville in exchange for a small stipend from her during his lifetime.

Ge's drawings were later discovered by art collectors in Swiss second-hand stores as late as 1974.

[4] Many "were acquired by a young collector, Christoph Bolman [...] he had no idea of their origin, simply recognizing their value.

Negotiations for their acquisition and return to Russia – as a full collection, rather than sold off in parts – failed repeatedly during the 1990s.