Among his fellow artists at the Academy were Drolling, Picot, and Cogniet, along with sculptors David d'Angers, Pradier, and Ramey; he became a friend of Ingres. His first painting at the Academy was "Cadmus killing the dragon at the fountains of Dirce", which was later purchased by the Duke of Orleans but was destroyed in the fire which engulfed the Palais-Royal in the French Revolution of 1848. Alaux also painted at the Academy "Diamedes carrying off the palladium" and "Episodes in the combats between the centaurs and the Lapithes". In 1821, he returned to France, where his reputation steadily grew with works such as "The Baptism of Clovis" (1825), "States General of 1838", "The Assembly of the notables at Rouen in 1596", and "States General 1614". Under the July Monarchy, he worked at the "Galerie des batailles" of the Château de Versailles, for which he painted "The Battle of Villaviciosa" (1836); "The Capture of Valenciennes" (1837); and "The Battle of Denain" (1839).