He is known mainly for his history paintings and portraits executed in an original style, which united aspects of Bolognese classicism with a bold naturalism.

[1] Cantarini was born in Pesaro, now a town in the Italian region of the Marche, then part of the Papal States and ruled by the Della Rovere.

[3] As he was not tutored by a single master in his early years, Simone Cantarini was mostly self-taught and he absorbed the styles of other painters by making copies or sketches after their works.

He further drew inspiration from the caravaggesque art of Orazio Gentileschi, who worked in the Marche region during the 1610s, and of Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri from nearby Fossombrone.

Cantarini started to receive commissions and one of his earliest masterpieces was the St Peter Healing the Lame Man, which was also placed in the church of San Pietro in Valle in Fano.

[2] Presumably around 1634 Cantarini joined Reni's studio, which was located in the via delle Pescherie near the piazza Maggiore in the old city centre of Bologna.

The reasons for this are not entirely clear but have been attributed to Cantarini's inability to submit to the discipline of Reni's school and the fact that works of the pupil were sold with the signature of the master to increase their price.

[2] Some biographers claim that Cantarini had created a scandal through his behavior and criticisms of the Gonzaga collection and it was suspected that he was poisoned by an angry rival.

His presumed master Claudio Ridolfi instilled in him an appreciation of Federico Barocci, which was reflected in the soft sfumato of the faces of his Virgins and saints, their idyllic mood and tender feeling.

He further drew inspiration from the caravaggesque art of Orazio Gentileschi and Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri from whom he acquired a powerful naturalism.

An early work reflecting this influence of Reni is St Peter Healing the Lame Man (church of San Pietro in Valle, Fano) dating from around 1634.

In this period he created the Rest on the Flight into Egypt (Louvre, Paris) and Susanna and the Elders (c. 1640; Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna).

His Rest on the Flight into Egypt (Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan) is based on Raphael's Madonna del Velo (Musée Condé, Chantilly).

The face of Reni thus acquires a greater liveliness and is infused with an expression of inner balance, rather than with impulsive anger as in the smaller copy in Bologna in the sample.

[2] Cantarini was a prolific etcher to whom are attributed with certainty 37 plates of mythological, religious and allegorical subjects, all of exceptional quality.

Cantarini's skill as a designer/draughtsman informed his work as an etcher by allowing him to arrive at a graphic simplification of great beauty and effectiveness.

[6] Cantarini is known to have followed a set procedure in the design and creation of his prints: he would start with a general sketch of the composition in pen or pencil.