Martens was born on December 16, 1806 inVenice, in the Veneto region in northeastern Italy.

In the early 1840s Martens's interest for photography awakened and he started working with photographers like Noël Paymal Lerebours and Pierre-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière.

[3] From 1840 Martens worked in Lausanne with Samuel Heer and Marc Secretan on making daguerreotypes and on the process.

On October 29, 1855, Martens was decorated with the National Order of the Legion of Honor (Knight).

Martens died on January 12, 1885 at age 78 in his second apartment in the 6th arrondissement of Paris (84 rue Bonaparte).