In 1752 he became a subservient in the Hortus botanicus Leiden, where he remained for the rest of his life. He worked under three directors: Adriaan van Royen, David van Royen and Sebald Justinus Brugmans. In 1771 he became hortulanus there, which he remained until his death in 1814. In 1775 he published the first volume of his "Pictures of Rare Crops", which was followed by four other volumes, of which in 1780 the latter was published. The volumes contain 50 engravings made by himself of plants from the Hortus botanicus Leiden and butterflies. In 1789 he published Plantae rariores vivis coloribus depictae, a full Latin version of his earlier work with 55 color plates and four extra pages of text and also published Plantarum selectarum icones pictae with 28 color images .
