Colman, a native of Portland, Maine, studied with Asher B. Durand, the leading exponent of the Hudson River School of landscape painting. In 1860/1862, Colman travelled in Italy where he completed this small watercolor sketch in early June, 1861.
Certaldo, a small town south of Florence, is known as the birthplace of Giovanni Boccaccio, the 14th-century poet.