Born in Naples, he moved to Salerno and was initially self-trained as a painter at age 16. He later taught design at the Seminary of Salerno and a school run by Benedictines. He painted from Cava de' Tirreni until 1855, and then went to study at the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples under Filippo Palizzi. He first participated at the Promotrice of Naples in 1862, with a "Children of Jefte"; in 1864, "Virtue and Labor". He then began producing works of genre and history. At the 1877 National Exposition in Naples, he exhibited a large canvas depicting "The Assassination of the Huguenot Admiral Coligny on the Night of San Bartolomew" (bought by the Municipality of Naples and exhibited in Museo di Castel Nuovo). At the Turin exhibition of 1884, he exhibited "Socrates visits Aspasia".