While decorating the palace of Vista Alegre he took up portraiture. In 1832 he went to Paris, where he studied under Franz Winterhalter, and painted portraits of Baron Taylor and Ingres. In 1837 he was commissioned to produce a picture for the gallery at Versailles, and painted "Godfrey de Bouillon proclaimed King of Jerusalem". The artist then returned to Rome, where he worked at various subjects, sacred and profane. Then he painted "Maria Christina in the Dress of a Nun by the Bedside of Ferdinand III" (1843), "Queen Isabella", "The Duchess of Medinaceli", and "The Countess de Vilches" (1845–47), besides a number of portraits of the Spanish aristocracy, some of which were sent to the exhibition of 1855.