Cennini, Cennino (
b Colle de Val d'Elsa, nr. Florence,
c.1370;
d Florence,
c.1440). Florentine painter and writer. No paintings survive that are certainly by him, but he is remembered as the author of
Il libro dell'arte, the most important source concerning artistic practice in the late Middle Ages. Cennini states in the book that he was a pupil of Agnolo
Gaddi, who learnt from his father Taddeo Gaddi, who in turn was a pupil of
Giotto, so his detailed descriptions of
tempera and
fresco painting no doubt reflect, even if at several removes, the technical procedures of the founder of the great tradition of Florentine painting. The earliest extant manuscript of the treatise (evidently made by a copyist in the debtors' prison in Florence) is dated 1437, but most authorities put the date of composition at around 1400. Although it is mentioned by
Vasari, the book was long forgotten, until the discovery of one of the three surviving manuscript copies in the early 19th century; the first printed edition of the text was published in 1821. The standard English translation, by Daniel V. Thompson Jr., is entitled
The Craftsman's Handbook (1933); it supersedes two 19th-century translations (1844 and 1899).
