By Anne Leader
Giovanni Mannozzi, known as Giovanni da San Giovanni after his birthplace of San Giovanni Valdarno, was born there on 20 March 1592. He was the leading fresco painter of Baroque Florence, where he spent his career. He also painted large canvases and received important public and private commissions for the Casa Buonarroti, Ognissanti Church, the Palazzo dell’Antella, and the Palazzo Pitti, which had become the grand-ducal residence in the sixteenth century.
Mannozzi was called to Rome in 1623 by Florentine Cardinal Giovan Garzia Mellini, and he received commissions from several leading Roman patrons. He returned to Florence in 1628, where he continued to work and receive praise until his untimely death in 1636 at age 44.
Reference: Maria Pia Mannini. “Giovanni da San Giovanni.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press.
Cancer (Self-Portrait), 1635-6, fresco. Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Sala Terreno painted for Duke Ferdinando II de’Medici
View of the apse and choir, 1622-24, fresco. Santi Quattro Coronati, Rome
Venus Combing Cupid’s Hair, c. 1630, oil on canvas. Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence
Sala Terreno, 1635-6, fresco. Florence, Palazzo Pitti, painted for Duke Ferdinando II de’Medici
Aurora and Tithonus, 1634-35, detached fresco. Museo Bardini, Florence