He painted in the Realist school and worked with several high-profile Hungarian and Austrian painters of his time.

Born at Óbecse (today Bečej, Serbia) to his father János Than of Abbot (1789–1858), a royal treasurer, and mother Ottilia Setényi.

[1] He attended high school in Kalocsa, in present-day Hungary and then studied philosophy and law in the current-day Budapest.

As a lawyer, he drew an entire album filled with objects drawn from Hungarian history, and after the conflict, he pursued an artistic career.

[6] However, the uprising failed, and the Hungarian State led by Lajos Kossuth collapsed; the printing presses were subsequently destroyed by Austrian authorities.