Simone Cantarini
Italian, 1612 - 1648
Italian painter and engraver. He was one of the most eminent pupils of Guido Reni and one of the most gifted engravers in the tradition of the Carracci. He had a strong personality and developed a highly original style, which united aspects of Bolognese classicism with a bold naturalism.
Cantarini was the son of a merchant. He first trained with the Late Mannerist painter Giovanni Giacomo Pandolfi (c. 1570–c. 1640), a follower of Federico Zuccari. He made a brief visit to Venice, where he absorbed the Venetian interest in light and colour. On his return to Pesaro he studied with Claudio Ridolfi (c. 1570–c. 1644), from whom he acquired an appreciation of the art of Federico Barocci. Barocci inspired the soft sfumato of the faces of his Virgins and saints, their idyllic mood and tender feeling, and the echoes of Raphael and early Correggio. Early on in his career, and still in the Marches, Cantarini saw the paintings of Orazio Gentileschi and Giovan Francesco Guerrieri, works that provoked his interest in a powerful naturalism, which is often apparent even in his more classical paintings. To this early period belong his paintings of St Rita (Pesaro, S Agostino), the Crucifixion (Pesaro, S Veneranda) and the altarpiece depicting the Virgin with SS Barbara and Terenzio (Aicurzio, nr Milan, S Andrea).
Around 1632 Cantarini saw, in Pesaro Cathedral, Guido Reni’s Virgin and Child with SS Thomas and Jerome (Rome, Pin. Vaticana), his Annunciation (Fano Cathedral) and the Delivery of the Keys to St Peter (ex-Fano Cathedral; Paris, Louvre). This had a profound impact on his later development. He made copies and drawings of these paintings, the success of which won him important commissions: for St Peter Healing the Lame Man (Fano, S Pietro in Valle), St Thomas of Villanueva and the Virgin of the Girdle (both Fano, Pin. Civ.). In 1635 he moved to Bologna with the specific intention of meeting Reni, and he went to work in Reni’s studio. His bold and ambitious nature and his growing awareness of his own potential, however, soon led him to reject the subordinate position of disciple and to assume a provocative stance. Their relationship developed into full-blooded rivalry, so that in 1637 they abandoned any contact. After this, Cantarini’s economic difficulties and continual quarrels with clients made it necessary for him to leave Bologna (c. 1638). His profound response to the poetry of Reni’s art is apparent in works that may be dated to this early period in Emilia, such as the Virgin of Monserrato (c. 1637; Stuffione, Modena, S Maria delle Grazie), St Stephen (Bazzano, Bologna, Parish Church) and the Transfiguration (c. 1637; Rome, Pal. Cancelleria). Probably contemporary with these are his paintings of the Virgin with Saints and St Anthony and the Child Jesus (Bolognina, Bologna, S Antonio da Padova), the ‘Great Saints’ (Rimini, Tempio Malatestiano) and Lot and his Daughters (Bologna, Neri priv. col., see Ferretti Colombo, p. 23, fig.), which, in its refined colour, is close to the late style of Reni.
Cantarini returned to Pesaro in 1639. In the following years, although Reni’s influence remained strong, the rupture in their relationship encouraged him to search for a more personal style. He moved away from academic classicism, renewed his early interest in naturalism and developed a freer, more lyrical vein. This was the period of the Rest on the Flight into Egypt (Paris, Louvre), Mary Magdalene and St Joseph (Pesaro, Mus. Civ.), St James (c. 1640; Rimini, Pin. Com. & Mus. Civ.) and Susanna and the Elders (c. 1640; Bologna, Pin. N.). About 1640–42 he visited Rome; the paintings conceived during and following his stay reveal a desire to move closer to the tradition of Raphael, yet without rejecting naturalism: the Rest on the Flight into Egypt (Milan, Brera) is based on Raphael’s Madonna del Velo (Chantilly, Mus. Condé). Other contemporaneous works, such as the Holy Family (Rome, Gal. Borghese), the Rest on the Flight into Egypt (Rome, Gal. Doria-Pamphili) and Atalanta and Hippomenes (Ferrara, Dell’Acqua priv. col., see Mancigotti, p. 131, fig.), suggest an interest in the trend towards Venetian art, displayed in the work of Francesco Mola, Pietro Testa and Andrea Sacchi. Attributable to his later years, but nevertheless still related to this tendency, are his Virgin with SS Vincent and Benedict (Gandino, Bergamo, Parish Church) and St Matthew and the Angel (Washington, DC, N.G.A.), the latter distinguished by unusually free brushwork.
On his return to Bologna, probably in 1642, the year of Reni’s death, Cantarini opened his own studio in the Palazzo Zambeccari, which was attended by artists such as Lorenzo Pasinelli, Flaminio Torri and the engraver Girolamo Rossi ( fl 1632–64). During this last period of the artist’s life he renewed his interest in the Carracci and painted the Adoration of the Magi (Florence, Torrigiani-Salina priv. col., see Mancigotti, p. 157, figs. 93–4, pl. 22) and the Holy Family with the Infant St John (Rome, Gal. Borghese), paintings that are characterized by balanced composition and rigorous draughtsmanship. In 1647 Cantarini was invited to Mantua by Carlo II Gonzaga of Nevers (1629–65); however, he took so long over the portrait the Duke had commissioned that he was relieved of his duties. He became seriously ill and moved to Verona, where he died.
Cantarini’s work as an engraver has been recorded and praised by various sources for its extraordinary delicacy and its vibrant and luminous quality. Many works are attributed to him but at present the actual number of engravings with a rightful claim to his authorship is restricted to 37 plates of mythological and religious subjects, all of exceptional quality.
Marina Garofoli. "Cantarini, Simone." In Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T013753 (accessed March 22, 2012).
Person TypeIndividual
Italian, c. 1510 - 1561