Between 1853 and 1870 Passini lived in Rome, where his work became focused on the human figure set against architectural and interior elements, and within narrative themes.

[4] While in Venice, Passini became part of the artist colony of Henry Woods, August von Pettenkofen, Carl van Haanen, Eugene de Blaas, Wolkoff, Ruben, and Thoren.

[5] Passini occupied a studio in the Palazzo Vendramin Calergi for thirty years with fellow artists Carlo Reichardt and Luigi Mion.

While here, in 1892, he painted his portraits of Katherine Bronson and Edith, her daughter, and the English Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and art historian Sir Henry Layard.

In formulating the Biennale in 1893, the mayor of Venice, Riccardo Selvatico, was advised by a committee of internationally exhibiting artists from many European countries, one being Ludwig Passini.

[1] In 1878 Passini was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour,[1] and the following year an honorary professor of the Vienna Academy of Art.

The art critic Philip Gilbert Hamerton described Italian painting of the time as playful to the point of being childish, although original with direct observation of nature.

"[14] His watercolor, I Canonici a vespro, exhibited at the 1867 Exposition of Paris, was awarded the grand gold medal.