He received his first art education at the Tekenschool in Geraardsbergen. Later, he became a student of the history painter, Pierre Van Huffel [fr]. After 1834, he lived in Antwerp, where he completed his artistic training with Ferdinand de Braekeleer.
At first, he was heavily influenced by De Braekeleer's work but, around 1860, broke free and developed his own, more refined use of color. His early works were mostly humorous in nature, but he later moved into genre scenes, interiors, portraits and even religiously-themed works.
One of his students was the German painter, Ludwig von Hagn, who worked with him at his studios in Antwerp and Brussels. Edmond De Schampheleer was another one of his better known students.
He served as Curator for the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp from 1885 to 1891.
His works may be seen there, at museums in Brussels and Liège and at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which owns sixty-seven of his works.
