[4][5] His teachers at the Antwerp Academy included Nicaise de Keyser and Jan Antoon Verschaeren.

[7] Verhas' fellow students at the Academy included the Dutch painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Karel Ooms.

Still, the Belgian government awarded him a special subsidy of 1,200 francs and commissioned from him a composition depicting the Battle of Kallo.

He started to spend time in Heist-aan-Zee on the Belgian coast where he explored new themes and the practice of plein air painting.

[14] His earliest works dealt with history subjects and were executed in the Romantic style which was then in vogue in Belgian academic circles.

[5][15] After moving to Brussels, he gradually developed his own Realist approach to rendering scenes of everyday life with a humoristic touch.

The settings of these scenes were typically interiors of bourgeois residences, princely libraries and large terraces with rich decorations and opulent furniture and accessories.

This composition shows five children of different ages in an opulent room gathered on one side of a black shining table on which various toys are laying about.

The youngest of the children, a boy wearing a bib, is shown in the middle concentrating on making his first brushstroke while his brother and sisters are looking on with encouraging and endeared gazes.

The warm color palette, the decorative background and the lavish furniture and delicate clothes of the children accentuate the bourgeois atmosphere.

This enormous canvas represents the parade of 23,000 pupils from all neighborhoods of the recently modernized Brussels and other parts of Belgium which was held on 23 August 1878 to celebrate the silver wedding of King Leopold II and Queen Marie-Henriette.

Leopold II strongly promoted this type of event in Belgium as they bolstered his vision of a united country.

Their uniform white dresses and golden-yellow hats give the girls a feeling of unity, while their faces are clearly individual portraits.

The painting brought together themes such as family spirit, patriotism, continuity, a familiar and encouraging modernity, and recognizable personalities.

[17] In the artistic development of Verhas, The parade of the schools of 1878 in the presence of King Leopold II signified a move towards a clearer palette.

[5] In the final period of his artistic activity Verhas was inspired by his experiences during his lengthy stays at the Belgian coast.