Ginevra Cantofoli

Ginevra Cantofoli (; 1608 or 1618 – 1672) was an Italian painter. She was active in Bologna during the Baroque period.

Career 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, , 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.

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."

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