Carneo was active in eastern Veneto and Friuli, particularly in Udine, where he was hosted for over twenty years by Counts Leonardo and Giovanni Battista Caiselli, for whom he produced numerous paintings. His first teacher was his father, but the young man later honed his skills through the assiduous study of 16th-century Venetian masters such as Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese. An admirer of Flemish models, of the Tenebrosi and their naturalistic accents, and of the works of Bernardo Strozzi and Luca Giordano, he was appreciated for the naturalistic chromaticism of his paintings, the fusion of veristic figurative models and rustic tastes, his swirling brushstrokes, and his imaginative flair. His son Giacomo was also a painter.
Corneo's work as a draftsman was studied by Aldo Rizzi in the early 1660s.