He had his big breakthrough in 1856 with the painting "Mormoner på besøg hos en tømrer på landet" ("Mormons visit a country carpenter"). The painting, created only six years after the missionaries' arrival in Denmark, is set in the shadowed interior of a provincial cottage. A group of people are gathered around a table, listening to a missionary's message. Light filters in through a small window and an open door. It is a study of contemporary daily life, carefully depicting the interior and costumes of the people in detail. The painting was donated to the Danish National Gallery ("Statens Museum for Kunst") in 1871.