( fl c. 1450–70). Italian illuminator. In 1462 he is recorded in Rimini living in the house of Francesco Antonio degli Atti, brother-in-law of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, ruler of Rimini, at whose court he was active. Giovanni illustrated copies of Basinio de’ Basini’s Hesperides (1449–57), an epic poem portraying Malatesta engaged in a struggle against Alfonso I, King of Naples and Sicily, for the domination of Italy. Presentation manuscripts (e.g. Oxford, Bodleian Lib., MS. Canon. Class. lat. 81; Paris, Bib. Arsenal, MS. 630; Rome, Vatican, Bib. Apostolica, MS. lat. 6043) were lavished by Malatesta on his allies. These codices include between 19 and 22 coloured drawings, with variations between copies, which are remarkable for their immediacy; one, for example, depicts a fortress by moonlight, another the Tempio Malatestiano under construction. Some scenes are within illusionistic marble frames. Two of the compositions bear the inscription OP. IOANNIS PICTORIS FANESTRIS. Giovanni also illustrated, with pen drawings, copies of Roberto Valturio’s De re militari, which dealt with war machines and strategy while exalting Malatesta. This treatise, begun soon after 1449–50, was completed by 1461 when Matteo de’ Pasti was sent to Constantinople with a presentation copy for the Ottoman ruler, Muhammad II. Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, also received an exemplum with an accompanying letter, dated 9 June 1464, from Bishop Angelo Geraldini, specifying that the illustrator involved in the production of this series was from Fano. Several other Riminese manuscripts of the De re militari are extant (e.g. 1462; Rome, Vatican, Bib. Apostolica, MS. Urb. lat. 281; 1463; Paris, Bib. N., MS. lat. 7236; 1465; Modena, Bib. Estense, MS. lat. 447; 1466; Venice, Bib. N. Marciana, MS. lat. VIII. 29; 1470; Milan, Bib. Ambrosiana, MS. F. 150. sup.).