Born in Venice of a family of artists, Rodolfo Paoletti attended for a brief period the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Venice. He then moved to Milan, and devoted most of his career to creating illustrations and drawings for journals and magazines including La domenica illustrata, La tribuna illustrata, Varietas, Natura ed Arte and Il Secolo XX.  He became part of a circle of prolific illustrators such as Duilio Cambellotti, Luigi Bompard, Marcello Dudovich, Enrico Sacchetti and Filiberto Mateldi. Paoletti also created the illustrations for numerous best-selling novels among which are: La guerre by Emile Zola, Il leone di San Marco by Luigi Motta, Amatevi by Guido Fabiani and I figli dell'aria by Emilio Salgari. In this role, he collaborated with noted publishing houses such as Treves in Milan and Donath in Genoa.

As a painter, in 1897 he participated at the Brera Biennale with a painting titled Extra Muros, which was purchased by King Umberto I of Italy. In cortile (In the courtyard) is another noteworthy painting, now in the collection of the Brera Academy.  He also participated in numerous Venice Biennals. The Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome owns the oil A Venezia and the Chamber of Commerce of Venice Dove Wagner sognava (Where Wagned used to Dream).  Private collectors own Silenti armonie (Silent Harmonies 1922), Rifugio d'anime (Shelter for the Soul, 1924) and Silenzi parlanti (Talking Silences, 1924).

Rodolfo Paoletti created numerous drawings of the pavilions of Turin 1911, many of which were reproduced and sold as postcards.

See: AA.VV., Nei dintorni di Dudovich, Catalogo della mostra, Trieste: Modiano, 2002