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Little is known about this artist's calling and training before he became Antonio de Pereda's disciple and main collaborator. Deaf and mute from birth, he was known as "Pereda's deaf mute." In 1679 and 1680, he worked alongside Claudio Coello, José Jiménez Donoso, Francisco Ignacio Ruiz de la Iglesia and Matías de Torres, among others, to prepare the celebration of the arrival of Charles II's firs
He is known to have signed an apprenticeship contract with well-known painter Luis Tristán in Toledo when he was fourteen years old (1619). That explains his strong tenebrist approach, which decidedly contrasts with what could be presumed to have been his education as a child, given that his mother, Juana Passano, was related to the wives of the Peroli brothers, Juan Bautista and Esteban, Genoese
Orphaned at the age of eight, he moved to Tudela, where he studied with his uncle, Fernando de Mozos, between 1645 and 1648. He spent the following four years at court, in Juan Carreño de Miranda's workshop. This brought him into contact with the Royal Collections and with other painters working in Madrid, including Francisco ¬Rizi, Claudio Coello, Francisco de Herrera and Mateo Cerezo. In 1653, h