The only source of information about Vincenzo Armanno is the 17th century Roman biographer Giovanni Battista Passeri who in his book Vite de pittori, scultori ed architetti: che anno lavorato in Roma, morti dal 1641 fino al 1673 included a chapter about Armanno.
He was locked up in the prison of the Roman Inquisition for quite a long time and then convicted to 'such punishment as is appropriate for those who ostensibly profess Catholicism but in reality live in heresy'.
He was punished to a period of 'deprivation of company' and jailed in the Dominican monastery adjacent to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.
As Vincenzo Armanno is most likely not the real name of this Flemish or Dutch painter and no works are currently attributed to him, art historians have tried to figure out whom he should be identified with.
Timon Henricus Fokker suggested in a 1931 publication that Vincenzo Armanno should be identified with the Flemish painter Vincent Malo.
[6] He came to the conclusion that the Vincenzo Armanno described by Passeri should rather be identified with the Dutch painter Herman van Swanevelt.
Bodart compared the biography of Vincenzo Armanno by Passeri with that of Vincent Malo by Raffaello Soprani in his 1768 publication about artists in Genoa Le vite de' pittori, scultori, ed architetti genovesi.