Pitloo started studying painting first at Paris and then at Rome, where there was already an international artistic colony, in 1811. He took advantage of a scholarship offered by Louis Bonaparte, the King of Holland. He was then invited to Naples. There since 1815, he opened a painting school in 1820 and, from 1824, he taught landscape painting at the Neapolitan Academy (Regio Istituto di Belle Arti). Around 1826 he was living in Vicoletto del Vasto 15, with Carl Götzloff, Giacinto Gigante and Teodoro Duclere. Gabriele Smargiassi was his pupil and successor at the academy. He remained in Naples until his death during a cholera epidemic.
Pitloo was considered a leading exponent of the Scuola Di Posilippo of painting, named to the area where he lived in Naples. He was one of the first to adopt the method of painting in the open air. Pitloo believed that the artist should remain faithful to the landscape, gathering his first impressions in research and sketches through observations of real life.