He was active principally in Rome, where was an important influence on Nino Costa and made a significant contribution to the formation of the Campagna Romana School of painting.

[1]: 14 [2] He became permanently resident there in 1835,[3] and on 21 June 1836 married Fortunata Segadori (or Segatori) from Subiaco, who, along with Vittoria Caldoni of Albano, was one of the most famous Roman models of the time.

[4]: 247  Segadori had sat for August Riedel;[5]: 490  a portrait of her by Johann Heinrich Richter is in the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen.

[4]: 247  In 1869 the family moved to 16 via Zucchelli, and for the first time Coleman set up a separate studio, at 33 via Margutta, possibly with the intention of providing space for his two painter sons.

[4]: 247 Coleman remained largely unknown in his native country but became a major influence on the Italian landscape painter Nino Costa, whom he met in the Campagna in the early 1850s.