Born in Paris on 21 February 1864, Coudray entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1882. He was a student of Dumont, Thomas, Allouard and Ponscarme. In 1893 he won the Grand Prix de Rome for a bas relief of Orpheus at the Gates of Hell. He was awarded a silver medal at the 1900 Exposition universelle. Coudray devoted most of his time to medal engraving and as such is regarded as one of the most important artists of the French medallic revival of the late nineteenth century.