 During that time, he achieved some renown for his watercolours, especially of flowers, and his work was exhibited in Brussels and at the Royal Academy in London.He was regarded as one of the few engravers of high rank at the end of the nineteenth century in Great Britain along with Charles Roberts, William Biscombe Gardner and Charles Frederick Ulrich.He became the chairman of the international Society of Wood Engravers, but, with the development of half-tone and screen blocks for illustrations, wood-engraving became obsolete, and he left the journal and moved north.