His father, Valentín, was a government employee and amateur poet, who succeeded in having some poems published in the ''''. His mother died around 1813, when he was only six or seven. In 1817, his father remarried. His step-mother was only eleven years older than he was. Soon after, the family moved from the busy neighborhood where they lived, to a quieter street near a Jesuit convent. He probably began his higher education there, at the
Colegio Imperial de la Compañía de Jesús. In 1819, at age 16, he was enrolled at the
Academia de San Fernando, where he initially studied with the painters
Zacarías González Velázquez,
Juan Antonio Ribera and
José Aparicio, as well as the engraver Vicente Peleguer (1793-1865) and the sculptor Esteban de Agreda (1759–1842). He finished his studies there with
José Madrazo. He remained attached to the Academy until 1833, when he received a commission from the
Ayuntamiento of Madrid to paint an allegorical picture of
Isabella becoming Queen at the age of three. The following year, he created a
cenotaph honoring the late King
Fernando VII, composed of five panels done in
grisaille. In 1838, he began providing drawings for the ''
, published by Ramón de Mesonero Romanos, and exhibited some capriccios at the Academy. Two years later, he collaborated with the Semanario
to produce illustrations for a new edition of the novel Gil Blas'' and the complete works of
Francisco de Quevedo. He also created decorations for the popular . In 1842, the Academy awarded him the title of "Académico de Mérito" for his painting of
David cutting off the head of
Goliath. This would be his last major work, as he had been suffering from
tuberculosis for several years and was in very poor health. Despite this, he managed to serve as a professor for a few months. Meanwhile, he was living in a cow barn, because he had become convinced that the fumes there were beneficial. Nothing helped, however, and he died in 1845 at the age of 38. He had become impoverished by then and his friends had to intervene to prevent his burial in a
common grave. ==Other selected paintings==