Eugenio Cajés learned to paint from his father, a Tuscan painter who had worked in Spain since 1567. As a youth, he visited Italy with his father and must have received training in Florence, since his drawing style owes much to Tuscan artistic models. His earliest commissions were collaborations with his father.

Cajés began working for Philip III in 1608, becoming painter to the king in 1612. For his first important work, he decorated a chapel in Toledo Cathedral. His early works are characterized by the dramatic artificiality typical of Mannerism, while his mature works reflect a move toward naturalism.