A pupil of Houasse in Madrid between 1726–30, he travelled at his own expense to Paris, Rome and Naples where he completed his education. Upon his return in 1737, he became acquainted with the court milieu, worked for the Palace, and was a member of the Preparatory Board for the foundation of the Royal Academy of Noble Arts beginning in 1744. He married a daughter of the engraver Juan Bernabé Palomino, nephew of painter and theoretician Antonio Palomino, who undoubtedly exerted a notable influence on his early work. In 1756, he was appointed Court Painter. His activity in his mature years was centred on the Academy – where he attained the position of General Director in 1769 – and the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Barbara, for which he supplied cartoons. He was a skilful portraitist as well as a prolific and facile drawer. Despite the fact that it remains little known, his work necessitates further study because in addition to demonstrating certain late Baroque devices, it shows echoes of Mengs’s classicism and is superior in quality to many of his more renowned contemporaries. The numerous drawings that have now been identified reveal an undoubtable mastery and a definite French echo (Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E.: Catálogo de Dibujos. II. Dibujos Españoles. Siglo XVIII (C-Z), Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1977, p. 35).