He attended the School of Painting of St. Petersburg Society for the Encouragement of Arts and thereafter the Imperial Academy of Arts, graduating in 1866. He was Professor of artistic and industrial painting as well as the history of decorative styles. He also developed a coherent system of academic training in arts. His main activities are however related to architecture and interior decoration. He engaged in the architecture and interior decoration of palaces of the members of the imperial family and of the mansions of aristocrats, as well as of several churches.
