Seven scenes from classical history and seven scenes from the New Testament

Carlos Luis Ribera y Fieve studied under his father Juan Antonio Ribera y Fernández (1779-1860) at the Real Academia de San Fernando in Madrid. He started drawing at a very young age; one of the present sheets is inscribed 'de 13 años debe ser del 1828' indicating that the drawing must have been made in 1828 when the artist was just 13 years old. When only 15 years old, the artist
won the first prize in the Academy's contest for his portrait painting Vasco Núñez de Balboa. After teaching at the Madrid academy he became its director and in 1846 he was appointed painter to the court of Isabella II.