In the evening, he studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts with Joseph Quinaux, a landscape painter.

[3] He met portrait painter Camille van Camp in 1863, who became a mentor and mecenas.

[3] At the time, his leading model was Jean-François Millet, although his later work was closer to that of Corot.

It was his suggestion that led to the creation of the Société Libre des Beaux-Arts, an art circle of young Belgian artists, including Alfred Verwee, Félicien Rops, and Constantin Meunier, with honorary members from abroad like Corot and Millet, but also Honoré Daumier, Gustave Courbet and Willem Maris.

Coupled with alcohol abuse, this led to an early death, in 1874 in a hotel in Brussels.