Background
Simone Cantarini was born was born at Oropezza near Pesaro on April 12, 1612.
Simone Cantarini was born was born at Oropezza near Pesaro on April 12, 1612.
Simone Cantarini was a disciple of Guido Reni and a fellow-student of Domeni and Albano.
The irritability of Cantarini's temper and his vanity were extreme and it is said that his death, which took place at Verona in 1648, was occasioned by chagrin at his failure in a portrait of the duke of Mantua. Others relate that he was poisoned by a Mantuan painter whom he had injured. His pictures, though masterly and spirited, are deficient in originality. Some of his works have been mistaken for examples of Guido Reni, to whom, indeed, he is by some considered superior in the extremities of the figures.
Among Cantarini's principal paintings are "St Anthony, " at Cagli; the "Magdalene, " at Pesaro; the "Transfiguration, " in the Brera Gallery, Milan; the "Portraitof Guido, " in the Bologna gallery; and " St Romuald, " in the Casa Paolucci. His most celebrated etching is " Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, honouring the arms of Cardinal Borghese. "
