Cennino Cennini

Cennino d'Andrea Cennini (c. 1360 – before 1427) was an Italian painter influenced by Giotto. He was a student of Agnolo Gaddi in Florence. Gaddi trained under his father, called Taddeo Gaddi, who trained with Giotto.

Cennini was born in Colle di Val d'Elsa, Tuscany. After training as an artist with Agnolo Gaddi in Florence he worked at the Carrara court in Padua for some years before apparently returning to Colle di Val d'Elsa.

He is remembered mainly for having authored Il libro dell'arte. Thought to have been written around the turn of the 15th century, the book is a "how to" on late Medieval and early Renaissance art. It contains information on pigments, brushes, drawing, panel painting, the art of fresco, painting on fabrics and casting, amongst other techniques and tricks. Cennini also mentions oil painting in passing, which was important for dispelling the myth, propagated by Giorgio Vasari and Karel Van Mander, that oil painting was invented by Jan van Eyck (although Theophilus (Roger of Helmerhausen) clearly gives instructions for oil-based painting in his treatise, On Divers Arts, written in 1125).

The dates of Cennini's life are highly speculative. It is often falsely assumed that he was alive in 1437 because that date appears on the earliest of the four extant copies of his manuscript. However, an administrative document from Colle di Val d'Elsa dated 1427 probably refers to his son; if this is the case then the document makes it clear that Cennini was dead by this time. The techniques Cennini describes range from ones which were already in use in the 13th century to ones which were innovative in the late fourteenth century. However, there is no evidence in his writing of the exciting developments in oil painting taking place in the early 15th century, suggesting that his book was not written long after the turn of the century.

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