He trained at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest and was a student of Otto Seiz. His frequent visits to Paris allowed him to learn from masters such as Bouguereau and Laurens. He spent some time living in Spain, where he had the opportunity to study the work of Velázquez closely. In 1894, he began working at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, and in 1917 he published The Mastery of Oil Painting. Throughout his life, he gained significant fame as an artist and amassed enough wealth to collect artworks and fund the travels of young artists.