 After graduation he moved to San Francisco where he studied art between 1885 and 1888 at the San Francisco Art Association’s California School of Design with Virgil Williams, Warren E. Rollins, and the Danish-born artist Emil Carlsen.In 1886, he received honorable mentions in both drawing and oil painting; a year later he was given the school's coveted Avery Gold Medal in oil painting and contributed a still life with “excellent tone” to the Winter Annual of the San Francisco Art Association.On September 12, 1888, Rose enrolled at the Académie Julian in Paris and studied with Benjamin-Constant, Jules Lefebvre, Lucien Doucet, and Jean-Paul Laurens while in Paris.