He combined the vivacity and richness of Carpeaux, for "he was, technically, one of the most distinguished modellers of his time",[2] with the academic insistence on harmonious outlines and scholarly familiarity with the work of Giambologna, Pierre Puget, Peter Paul Rubens and others.

Having identified himself too publicly with the Paris Commune of 1871, as curator at the Musée du Louvre under Gustave Courbet, he took refuge in England in July 1871, staying at first with his friend the painter and engraver Alphonse Legros.

He was commissioned to produce the large public fountain called Charity, erected at the back of the Royal Exchange (1878), and for Queen Victoria a monument to two young granddaughters in her private chapel at Windsor (1878).

His great relief of Mirabeau replying to Dreux-Brézé illustrating an encounter of 23 June 1789, which was exhibited in 1883 and later at the Palais Bourbon, and the highly decorative panel Fraternity were followed in 1885 by The Triumph of Silenus.

His auction record, set at Sotheby's on 21 May 2014 is £362,500[8] for Boulonnaise Allaitant Son Enfant (a young mother from Boulogne feeding her child).