Having won a medal at the 1890 Paris Salon, he became one of the first Canadian artists to receive international recognition in his lifetime.

[1] Peel was born in London, Canada West, and received his art training from his father from a young age.

[2] Like fellow graduates of the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts and students of Eakins, Paul subscribed to a tonal method of rendering natural light outdoors.

[4] He studied afterwards with Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant in his private atelier and then with him at the Académie Julian as well as with Henri Doucet and Jules Lefebvre (1877-1890).

[5] He also exhibited at international shows like the Paris Salon, where he won a bronze medal in 1890 for his painting After the Bath.