Cennini, Cennino (c. 1370–c. 1440)

Italian painter and writer, who wrote a practical manual on painting Il libro dell'arte/The Book of Art (c. 1390), an important source of information on the workshops of the early Renaissance. None of his paintings survives.

Born in Colle di Val d'Elsa, near Siena, he went to Florence to be a pupil of Agnolo Gaddi, who worked in the tradition of Giotto. The Book of Art explains in detail a range of techniques for panel painting and for fresco painting. While, as reflected in contemporary Italian practice, much of the discussion is taken up with painting in tempera, he also mentions oil painting as a German practice.

Cennini's work was copied and remained in circulation into the 16th century, when Giorgio Vasari saw a copy.