born in bârlad, he left his home town in 1902 in order to attend the iaşi national school of fine arts, where he had among his teachers gheorghe popovici and emanoil bardasare. the following year he visited italy together with university of bucharest students of archeology under the direction of grigore tocilescu. during that period, together with some of his fellow students, tonitza painted the walls of grozeşti church.