After completing his primary education in his hometown, in 1836, he enrolled at the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City, where he studied with the Catalonian painter Pelegrí Clavé.

Between 1848 and 1854 he travelled throughout the countryside as a teacher for the Literary Institute (now the Autonomous University of Mexico State).

Later, he embarked on several study trips; notably to the United States (1868-1872), followed by Rome, Paris, Madrid (where he worked briefly with Federico de Madrazo), Barcelona, Florence and others.

In 1873, he visited New York, where he met the Colombian writer and diplomat, Rafael Pombo, who invited him to Bogotá, where he stayed for many years.

While in Paris, he had studied nude painting and, in 1891, when his "Huntress of the Andes" was displayed in Mexico, it created a small scandal.