Herter had an extraordinary early career, at age 19 receiving an honorable mention at the Paris Salon (1890, "La Femme de Buddha"), and winning prizes from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1897 Lippincott Prize, "Le Soir"), the American Watercolor Society (1899 Evans Prize, "The Gift of Roses"), and elsewhere. He was awarded medals at the 1895 Atlanta Exposition ("1830", "The Muse"), the 1897 Nashville Exposition ("The Muse"), the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle ("Sorrow"), and the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo ("Gloria", "The Danaides").