Giovanni Angelo Canini

Who was Giovanni Angelo Canini?

Giovanni Angelo Canini was an Italian painter and engraver of the Baroque period.

He is also known as Giovanni Agnolo Canini or Giannangiolo. He was born at Rome, one of three brothers, sons of a stonemason named Vincenzo, all of whom became artists. The elder brother was a painter; while the younger brother, Marcantonio, a sculptor. He was first the pupil of Domenichino as a child, and traveled with him to Naples. There he worked with Antonio Barbalonga. In 1634, at the request of Domenichino, he was commissioned to restore the oil paintings, which had been painted by Passignano on the walls of the chapel of St Sebastian in the Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati.

He painted two altarpieces: the Martyrdom of St Stephen and of Saints Bartholomew and Nicola with the Trinity for the church of San Martino ai Monti in Rome that belonged to the Oratorians of St Phillip Neri. In 1645 signing in the Castello Theodoli in Sambuci near Tivoli, he also painted frescoes for the brother of Cardinal Camillo Astalli, depicting the Stories of Rinaldo and Armida, mythological scenes and figures in chiaroscuro, with frescoed landscapes and fake architecture of colonnades.