 He was born to a liberal family in Granada and was descended from "afrancesados".His father, owned a book store that carried out typography and book-binding.Upon discovering that he had a talent for art, he was enrolled at the "Escuela de Bellas Artes" and, seeing how quickly he learned, he was transferred to the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, where he studied from 1857 to 1860 with Federico de Madrazo, Antonio María Esquivel and Juan Antonio Ribera.