In Berlin, King Frederick William IV gave him numerous commissions for works in public buildings and churches; beginning with frescoes in the chapel at Berlin Palace. Over the next few years, he would create works at the Neues Museum, the Church of Peace, Potsdam, and St. Hedwig's Cathedral. He also produced what he considered to be his masterwork, "Die Magdeburger Jungfrauen", depicting a scene from the Sack of Magdeburg, which occupied him from 1852 to 1866.