Alma-Tadema had a pleasant stay in Paris in October 1895, and on their return the artist was able to complete Coign of vantage .To many of his followers, A Coign of Vantage is his consummate and most exhilarating painting . It falls into the same category as the other paintings which were influenced by the 1890 visit to Tutzing, and even includes the bronze lion from Ebers's home. The small painting is considered today one of Alma-Tadema's most popular paintings . Strangely A Coign of Vantage was almost unknown in Alma-Tadema's lifetime. A Coign of Vantage was sold to an American collector immediately after completion and thus lost to the media and exhibitions. It resurfaced in 1940 and was not exhibited until 1973 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.