Born the Tras os Montes village of São Mamede de Ribatua in the council of Alijó in 1837, Teixeira Lopes's father was a blacksmith and small scaler farmer.
He did not have an artistic education but due to his obvious talent his parents sent him as an apprentice in the office of Manuel de Fonseca Pinto in Porto.
At the age of 13 he was able as Fonseca Pinto's apprentice to carry out various tasks including the decoration of barges in the wharves of Vila Nova de Gaia.
[citation needed] In 1862, his proposal for a statue of Dom Pedro V for Batalha Square won a competition, with the work to be funded by the Council of Porto.
[citation needed] In 1864 he won a scholarship to travel to Paris where he stayed for two years, studying at the École Impériale de Beaux-Arts.