[1] His romantic paintings on historic subjects got the attention of the government of the newly independent Belgian state which was looking to glorify its past as well as to foster a new cultural renaissance in Belgium.

[1] As a sign of the high regard in which he was held in the German-speaking world he was invited to become a member of the Academies of Berlin, Dresden, Munich and Vienna.

[3] When the painting ordered by the King of Prussia was finally finished and exhibited in Brussels in 1848, the work met with negative criticism and was judged to be mediocre and historically inaccurate.

However, he no longer exhibited his new works publicly until 1875 when he showed a historic painting entitled The episode of the banquet of the confederated nobles at the Salon of Brussels.

Others in this group included Gustave Wappers, Louis Gallait, Ernest Slingeneyer, Nicaise de Keyser and other minor figures.

They chose as the subject matter of their work important historical events in Belgium’s history which were regarded as key to the country’s national identity.

[8] The painting's fame was further boosted when a lithograph reproducing it was published under the title The Sultan's Favourite Songstress in Georg Ebers's book, Egypt: Descriptive, Historical, and Picturesque, (I, New York, 1878, p.