Ginevra Cantofoli

Training under Elisabetta Sirani is recorded. The recorded working language is Italian. The field of work recorded is painting. Places of work recorded in the authority are Bologna. Work by Ginevra Cantofoli is recorded in the collections of Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica and Pinacoteca di Brera.

• Name — Ginevra Cantofoli • Born — 1608 or 1618 • Birthplace — Bologna, Papal States • Died — 1672 (aged 53–64) • Place of death — Bologna, Papal States • Field — Painting • Training — Giovanni Andrea Sirani • Movement — Baroque

Born in Bologna, Papal States, Cantofoli trained there under Giovanni Andrea Sirani, the father of Elisabetta Sirani. Although a generation older than Elisabetta Sirani, Cantofoli was described by Carlo Cesare Malvasia, Cesare Masini, and Marcello Oretti as Elisabetta's student. Also named as her teachers are Emilio Taruffi, Lorenzo Pasinelli, and Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole. According to art historian Laura M. Ragg, among the women painters in Bologna at the time, Cantofoli "had much more talent than any of her companions." Her early works were pastel portraits and small paintings, but she later went on to paint large-scale compositions. She was primarily a history painter. She also produced several altarpieces for Bolognese churches, although none of these works are known to still exist. Art historian Massimo Pulini attributes 30 works to Cantofoli. Among her works are a painting, Self-Portrait, Allegory of Painting, and a drawing, Self-Portrait, which portrays the artist holding a palette and brushes before an easel, both dated to c. 1665. It has also been asserted that a painting known as Allegory of Painting (in a private collection) contains a self-portrait, and that "the features of many of her female figures resemble her own." A painting of a woman in a turban in the collection of the Palazzo Barberini, traditionally identified as a portrait of Beatrice Cenci, long attributed to Guido Reni, has been attributed to Ginevra Cantofoli.

• Illustration — A Sea Nymph, probably Galatea, private collection • Illustration — Presumed portrait of Beatrice Cenci, Palazzo Barberini • Illustration — Scena Allegorica, private collection • Illustration — Truth Revealing the Artifice of Painting, c. 1665-1672, Berkeley Art Museum • Illustration — Self-Portrait (drawing), c. 1665, Giorgio Cini Foundation, Venice • Illustration — Head of a woman wearing a turban, after Guido Reni, attributed to Cantofoli, The British Museum • Illustration — A Sybil, private collection • Illustration — Saint Thomas of Villanova, etching of 1658 after the painting by Cantofoli