Ferdinand Keller spent his early life in Karlsruhe, Germany. After a brief four-year stay in Brazil, from 1858-1862, he returned to his homeland, to study under the landscape painter, Johann Wilhelm Schirmer.

In 1866, he traveled, visiting in France, Switzerland and living from 1867-1869 in Rome, where he met Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach a German philosopher, writer, and anthropologist whom he deeply admired.

His first large success was at the Paris World Exhibition of 1867 for a historical painting called "Death of Philipps II". After this success, Keller returned to Germany,teaching from 1870-1913 in the Karasruhe Academy of Arts in southern Germany, where he ultimately became director.

In 1900 he discovered the work of Arnold Böcklin, one of the most celebrated and influential artists in central Europe, notably for his imaginative and idiosyncratic interpretation of themes from classical mythology. Keller became a devoted admirer, developing a new interest in the idealist landscape.

Ferdinand Keller was most important as a history painter and Symbolist. His highly decorative and brightly colored paintings won him the reputation of the "Makart of Baden", after the Austrian painter Hans Makart, an Austrian celebrity figure who painted in the high culture of Vienna.