He was a member of the Société des Artistes Français, and won a third-class medal in 1885 for his work.

He may have been friends with American painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler[1] and French writer Auguste Angellier; the latter dedicated a book to him around 1893.

[3] At the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle he was decorated by a silver medal, and then a gold medal during the subsequent 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, where two of his pieces, "Vanity" and "The Annunciation", were exhibited.

Following the CNE's decision in 1938 to cease collecting and exhibiting European art, the painting (with other French works) was loaned to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO); in the mid-1960s these works were formally donated to the AGO.

In June 2005, "L'Épée" was included in an exhibition called "Favourites: Your Choices from Our Collection", which displayed works based on votes from the general public from the previous four months.