 Velasco studied art at the Academy of San Carlos under the professor of landscape, Italian Eugenio Landesio, who began teaching at the Academy in 1855.Landesio raised landscape painting in Mexico to high art, and articulated theories of composition that he implemented in his landscapes.Velasco is his most famous pupil, who following his mentor's departure in 1877, dominated Mexican landscape painting and gained an international reputation, whose works became part of collections in the U.S.

Velasco's production can be classified into three periods