Simone Cantarini (Pesaro, 1612 - Verona, 1648), There is no documentary information on Cantarini's early training. He may initially have been a pupil of Giovanni Giacomo Pandolfi. A priest from a church in Pesaro who supported Cantarini's artistic career accompanied the young artist on a trip to Venice.

In Venice he benefited from the guidance of the Venetian Mannerist painter Sante Peranda and learned to draw from Francesco Mingucci, a fellow citizen of Pesaro who lived in Venice. He returned to Pesaro and received his first commissions from the Augustinian order in Pesaro and nearby Fano. His first commissions included the painting Saint Rita of Cascia, now in the Church of Saint Augustine in Pesaro, and The Immaculate Conception ...