Complex sentence: He went on to study at the University of Berlin, and divided his time between New York and Europe for much of the 1870s and 1880s, studying the Renaissance and Baroque paintings that would become his livelihood.
Split into simpler sentences: He went on to study at the University of Berlin, and divided his time between New York and Europe for much of the 1870s and 1880s. During his trips to Europe, he studied the Renaissance and Baroque paintings that would become his livelihood.