He showed his masterpiece, "Episode of the Belgian Revolution of 1830" at the Antwerp Salon in 1834. He was then made painter to Leopold, King of the Belgians. At the death of Matthieu-Ignace Van Brée in 1839 he was raised to director of the Antwerp Academy. One of his students was Ford Madox Brown, another was the Czech history painter Karel Javůrek.