José Garcia Chicano studied at the Escuela de Artes Nobles in Cádiz. In Sevilla, he was first introduced to works by Zurbarán and Murillo that had a great impact on his future artistic development. Garcia Chicano was soon awarded a student grant, in order to move to Rome together with his comrades Manuel Montano and Manuel Roca.

After a short consecutive stay in Paris, Garcia Chicano especially focused on lithography, since 1825. As a painter, he was also involved in the decorations of the Cathedral of Cádiz, from 1836 to 1842. In the following year he became head of the faculty of drawing at the Liceo de Málaga and in this role he developed an emerging generation of painters from that regio...