Cantarini to leave Bologna. Cantarini is recorded back in his native Pesaro in 1639. He is said to have had a relationship with a local young woman with whom he had extramarital children. He made a brief trip to Rome in 1640 or 1641. After Reni's death in 1642, Cantarini returned to Bologna. Here he opened his own studio in the Palazzo Zambeccari, where he trained local artists such as Lorenzo Pasinelli, Flaminio Torre, Giulio Cesare Milani, Giovanni Peruzzini, Giovanni Maria Luffoli, and the engraver Girolamo Rossi. Giovanni Venanzi was also very likely his pupil. In 1647 Cantarini was invited to Mantua by Carlo II Gonzaga of Nevers. Since it took him too long to finish the portrait the Duke had commissioned he was relieved of his duties. He became seriously ill and moved to Verona, where he died. 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. Work General Cantarini was principally a painter of the Counterreformation who painted religious subjects. The majority of Reni's compositions deal with religious subject matter, principally taken from the New Testament. He was particularly interested in depicting scenes involving the Holy Family and the Holy Virgin, either in portrait settings with St Joseph and other saints or in scenes like the flight into Egypt. He was also a gifted portrait painter. Cantarini was further a prolific engraver and draughtsman. His work shows the influence of various artists with the influence of Guido Reni being the most important one. He was able to develop his own personal style from what he had learned from Reni combining elements of Baroque with Classicist tendencies. His early works reveal a Venetian influence by their clear interest in light and colour. 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. His early works show further his study of the works of Raphael and the early work of Correggio. He further drew inspiration from the caravaggesque art of Orazio Gentileschi and Giovanni Francesco Guerrieri from whom he acquired a powerful naturalism. In the early 1630s he became increasingly absorbed in the work of Guido Reni that was present in various churches in and