He was a teacher at the Académie Julian in Paris. One of his famous students was the Scottish born landscape painter William Hart. Georges Rochegrosse, Félix Vallotton, the Americans Childe Hassam, John Henry Twachtman, John Noble Barlow, Augustus Kenderdine, and Charles A. Platt were also his pupils. He was a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts for a long time.