 The following year, his portrait of Fyodor Tolstoy earned him the title of "Professor".In 1856, on the recommendation of Feodor Pryanishnikov, he began working at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture as a senior Professor of painting and had many notable students there; including Vasily Perov, Illarion Pryanishnikov and Vasili Pukirev.He painted little during the 1860s, focusing instead on teaching.