[2] He was influenced by Antonio Mancini, a lifelong supporter, especially in his genre depictions of the activities of the lower classes of Naples.

He was described as Irascible, diffident, and prone the jealousy, he was not one to gain friends among his colleague painters, with the exception of Antonio Mancini... and this lack of affability forced him to have to sell briskly to be able to sustain himself.

He did get commissions in the last decade of the 19th century to decorate the Caffè Gambrinus in Naples, the ceiling (1895) of the Garibaldi Communal theater at Santa Maria Capua Vetere, and the ceiling (1897–1898) of the refurbished Palazzo della Borsa in Naples where he painted allegories of work and history.

[5] At the 1904 Universal Exposition at Saint Louis, he won a gold medal for a large seascape canvas.

[6] In 1910 a young female pupil, Venturina Castrignani, committed suicide after being romantically rejected by Gaetano.