Großherzoglich-Sächsische Kunstschule Weimar
He was the son of a teacher. Originally, he intended to take up a career in science and attended the engineering school in Glogau. His interests soon turned to art and, from 1854 to 1856, he attended the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin. Until 1860, he worked in the studios of Julius Hübner in Dresden. After two years in Leipzig, he entered the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School, where he studied under Ferdinand Pauwels. He became a professor there in 1866.