Pietro Paolini, called Il Lucchese (3 June 1603 – 12 April 1681) was an Italian Baroque painter. Active in Rome, Venice and finally in his native Lucca, he was a follower of Caravaggio. He founded an Academy in his home town that shaped the next generation of Luccan artists.
After establishing a successful studio in Lucca, Pietro Paolini specialized in cabinet paintings, often including allegorical or musical subjects, as well as still lifes, a genre he introduced to the city. He received numerous commissions from religious institutions in Lucca, as well as from prominent locals.

Around 1652, Pietro Paolini founded the “Academy of Painting and Drawing of Lucca”, where he helped train many artists. The Academy contributed to the creation of a particularly lively artistic environment in Lucca in the second half of the 17th century. The main themes of Pietro Paolini’s works were themes popularized by Caravaggio in Roman painting at the turn of the 17th century. They included depictions of lower-class people such as swindlers, charlatans, peddlers, prostitutes, and musicians. He usually placed only a few figures in a scene. Pietro Paolini’s works are characterized by a balanced, simple division of the canvases, the plasticity of the figures, mysteriously vague expressions, smooth, luminous complexions, and the precision with which he reproduced materials and objects such as musical instruments.

On 25 November 1651, Paolini married Maria Forisportam Angela di Girolamo Massei, with whom he had two sons: Andrea, who became Keeper of the State Archives, and Giovanni Tommaso. Around 1652 (and possibly even earlier), Paolini founded the “Academy of Painting and Drawing of Lucca”, where he helped train many artists. The Academy contributed to the creation of a particularly lively artistic environment in Lucca in the second half of the 17th century.

Numerous artists trained at the Academy, such as Girolamo Scaglia, Simone del Tintore (a still life painter) and his brothers Francesco and Cassiano, Antonio Franchi, Giovanni Coli and Filippo Gherardi. Pietro Testa may also have been a student of Paolini. Paolini owned a collection of coins and plaster casts taken from ancient models, as well as a collection of ancient and modern weapons that were used as models and props at the Academy.

Paolini later gave up painting almost entirely to devote himself to teaching.

He died in Lucca in 1681.