Großherzoglich-Sächsische Kunstschule Weimar
During a stay in Frankfurt, he met the Baroness Elisabeth von Thienen-Adlerflycht, daughter of the Danish chargé d'affaires, and they were married in 1859. She died shortly after childbirth in 1865. Their son, Alexander von Gleichen-Rußwurm, became a well-known writer and philosopher. His sense of loss led him to pursue his artistic inclinations. Leaving Alexander in the care of his mother Emilie, he moved into an apartment with a studio in Weimar, studying with Max Schmidt and Theodor Hagen at the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School. In 1872, he had his first exhibition in Berlin. During a stay in France in 1876, he came under the influence of the Barbizon school and developed an interest in etching.