STROZZI, BERNARDO. – Known as the Genoese Capuchin, painter, b. in Genoa in 1581, d. in Venice in 1644. He is among the most notable Genoese painters of the early 17th century.
Strozzi, whose training was highly complex despite his almost aggressively popular immediacy, is the most typical exponent in his city of that Venetian-inflected naturalism which would later be followed by G. A. De Ferrari. Among his early Tuscan-influenced works are the Madonna in the Louvre and that in Genoa (Crosa di Vergagni collection), the St. Catherine in Hartford—the finest example of a large series—and among his Lombard works, the Flagellation from the Migone collection in Genoa and the Deposition in the Accademia Ligustica. Closer to the sensibility of Flemish masters present in Genoa, such as Aertsen, Beuckelaer, and van Roos, and thus more frankly realistic, is a group of paintings including the Pipers in Genoa’s Palazzo Bianco, the Musicians in the Bavesi collection in Genoa, and the very famous Cook in Palazzo Rosso. Of the few frescoes by Strozzi that survive, those in Palazzo Carpaneto in Sampierdarena (1623–25) and the lost Paradise in the church of S. Domenico are of great interest; noteworthy also is the small canvas in the Accademia Ligustica, almost a premonition in its color, as are the canvases depicting Joseph’s Dream in the versions owned by the Spinola, Serra, and Pallavicino families. Among his final Genoese-period works, intensely evocative of Caravaggist sources, are the high-quality Calling of St. Matthew in the Worcester Art Museum and St. Augustine in the guise of a pilgrim washing Christ’s feet in the Accademia Ligustica. In Venice, where he settled in 1630 and never left until his death, Strozzi developed his qualities to the fullest, not untouched by the influence of the great masters of the 16th century; Veronese-esque touches are especially evident in the airy Rape of Europa in the Poser collection and in the architectural backgrounds of the Supper in the Gallerie dell’Accademia. Critics have acknowledged his pivotal role in that artistic revival which, in the fullness of the 17th century, paved the way for Venice’s great achievements of the 18th century. Among Strozzi’s most elevated works are those in Vienna, the Annunciate in Budapest, and the portraits in Moscow.