Giovanni Sarnelli was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque style. He was one of at least four brothers: including Antonio, Gennaro, and Giuseppe, trained in the studio of Paolo de Matteis, and active painting mainly sacred subjects in Campania, Italy. Their father had been an army officer for the Royal administration. One of Giovanni's brothers, Ferdinando, was a secretary of the Banco di San Giacomo. The biographer Bernardo De Dominici mainly recalled Gennaro, but mentioned that Antonio and Giovanni, then still alive were excellent pupils of Matteis.