(b Nave, Lucca, 26 Sept 1752; d Lucca, 29 Nov 1812). Italian painter. At the age of ten he entered the workshop of Giuseppe Antonio Luchi (1709–74), and in 1767 joined the school of Bernardino Nocchi, who in 1769 took him to Rome, where Tofanelli completed his training with Niccolò Lapiccola. Under the supervision of the latter he took part in the restoration (1772) of Pope Julius II’s villa and the decoration of the Palazzo Caffarelli-Vidoni-Stoppani (from 1773; in situ), both in Rome. His talent as a draughtsman quickly attracted attention: he was sought after by the engravers Giovanni Volpato and Raphael Morghen to make copies of works by Old Masters, and in 1781 he set up a school of drawing.