Antoni Caba was born in Barcelona. He attended the Escola de la Llotja during the 1850s, where he studied with Pau Milà i Fontanals and Claudi Lorenzale. Supported by a stipend from the school board, he later attended the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, where his primary instructor was Federico de Madrazo. His first exhibition came in 1864, at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts. The government bought one of his works for the collection of the Museo del Prado.