1853

Takes an interest in the works of the well-known Dutch landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdael. Copies works by Alexandre Calame, a Swiss painter, draughtsman and engraver whose prime theme was the austere Alpine landscape; Calame's works are characterized by an outward, theatrical romanticism. Does his first etching, Mountain Road. Devotes much time to sketching from nature in Moscow and Sokolniki (an outlying area of Moscow, much favoured as a plein-air site by landscape artists).