GIOVANNI da RIMINI. — Painter from Rimini of the 14th century, BRONZO (v.), who was likewise a painter from Rimini and his contemporary.
Whereas the stylistic basis for reconstructing the figure of this second painter must be recognized in the works he signed precisely with the name Baronzio, such as the altarpiece in the Galleria nazionale of Urbino, dated 1345, for a reconstruction of the figure of G. da R. it is appropriate to begin with the Crucifix in the church of S. Francesco at Mercatelle, signed Joannes de Arimino in 1344. In this case, another Crucifix from the Diotallevi collection, now in the Pinacoteca civica of Rimini, some frescoes in the Rimini church of S. Agostino, and several panels painted in various Italian and foreign collections may also be attributed to the painter.
Unlike Giovanni Baronzio, whose stylistic ancestry, apart from the broadly Giottesque element, is readily recognizable in the work of Giuliano da Rimini, G. da R. develops, upon a Giottesque foundation, a style whose essential beauty derives from the richness of an intense color that models the forms harmoniously, anticipating achievements that would later belong to Venetian painting. If it were possible to demonstrate that the great Crucifix in the Tempio Malatestiano should be attributed to G. da R., although others consider it the work of Giotto himself, and although for many reasons it is thought to be the product of the art of a very great master oriented in a manner analogous to G. da R., he himself could truly be regarded as the leading figure of the 14th-century Romagna school of painting.