Soon he began to exhibit, in Paris and Madrid as well as Portugal. He was mainly known as a landscape painter and often worked with Tomás da Anunciação, who he considered to be his true teacher. At the Exposition Universelle (1855), he exhibited what is probably his best-known work "Cinco Artistas em Sintra" (Five Artists at Sintra), which was later purchased by King Ferdinand II. After a showing in Madrid, he was knighted by King Amadeo I.