Mali was born in the Netherlands in 1832.  He comes from a family of artists, his brothers Hubert and Johann Cornelis Mali were also painters.  Furthermore he was influenced by his brother in law, the Dutch landscape painter and art dealer Peter Francis Peters (1818-1903).

Christian Mali was trained as animal and landscape painter by his brother Johann in Munich. There he met the painter and professor at the Munich Academy Anton Braith who  became a close friend.  Travels took him to Italy and Paris, in the latter he studied the paintings by Troyon and since then devoted himself especially to animal painting....