He later worked as a clerk for a horse farm, and held several clerical positions for the city governments in Tervuren and Duisburg.

In 1868, he was one of the co-founders of the Société Libre des Beaux-Arts; originally a small workshop, later a sort of free academy.

He made visits to Normandy with Alfred Verwée and Louis Dubois, and spent a short time at Barbizon.

His own style gradually evolved from that of Fourmois to a simpler approach, reminiscent of Hippolyte Boulenger, his patron at Tervuren.

The exhibition included forty-nine of his works, plus two by his son, Frits, as well as a bust of him by Léon Mignon, and a portrait by Jean-Emmanuel Van den Bussche [fr].