Becker's father was initially opposed to him following an artistic career, but was eventually persuaded otherwise by the painter August Gustav Lasinsky who was decorating a church at Finthen.

[1] Steinle encouraged him to make works illustrating folk tales, which he executed in watercolour.

[2] His growing reputation led to a commission from the Prince Georg zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg to decorate the chapel of Löwenstein Castle at Kleinheubach am Main (1870–1) and in 1872 he painted an altarpiece for the church of St Peter in Mainz.

[1] Becker's work was in great demand: his most celebrated picture, Der Jude im Dorn (1874–5), a watercolour illustrating the German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm[3] was purchased for the royal collection Galerie Neue Meister in Dresden for 4,500 marks,[1] and his last major work, "Die Rolandsknappen", a cycle of five watercolours, was bought by the city of Mainz in 1876.

[4][2] In April 1877 he moved to Munich to work for King Ludwig II of Bavaria, but died of typhus there on 21 August 1877, aged 31.