Giovanni Battista Armenini

Who was Giovanni Battista Armenini?

Giovanni Battista Armenini or Armanini was an Italian art historian, critic, and academic. He was born and died in Faenza. His main contribution was the publication in 1587 of the theoretical treatise on the practice of painting, titled De veri precetti della pittura. Armenini describes that he had the opportunity to travel through Rome, Naples, Milan, Genoa, Venice and other cities of Italy for nine years. In 1564, he became rector of the church of San Tommaso in Faenza.

He dedicated his opus to Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. In the first book, he speaks of major Renaissance and Mannerist painters of the past including Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, Antonio da Correggio, Sebastiano Veneziano, Giulio Romano, and Andrea del Sarto. He criticizes later painters like Perino del Vaga, Daniele da Volterra, Domenico Beccafumi, and Parmigianino. Contemporary theoretical books had been published based on writings of Leonardo da Vinci, Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo, and Leon Battista Alberti.

The work was republished by Stefano Ticozzi in Milan in 1820.