Bernando Strozzi   (1581 – August 2, 1644 ) was a painter from the Baroque period whom I had always imagined to be related to the Florentine Strozzi family – in fact I had always imbued his works with all sorts of romantic fantasies about his melancholy gloom being related to the families exile from Florence – but that is just putting my own feelings  imagining myself  in his place. In reality he was born in Genoa and there is no evidence of any ties with the famous Florentine family that Cosimo di Medici drove into exile.

At the age of 17 Bernando Strozzi joined a Capuchin monastery, a reform branch of the Franciscan order, only to leave again again 29 when his father died in order to care for his mother, earning their living from sales of  his paintings- which appear to have been influenced by the teaching of St Francis – with whom he appeared to identify having used his own self -portrait in this painting St Francis in Prayer done in 1620 which also  shows a restrained version of the dark emotionalism of Caravaggio., whose more fanciful Ecstasy of St Francis is shown below Strozzi’s.

In 1625, he was charged with illegally practising as a painter -which was perhaps the age old problem of undeclared income rather than somebody taking against his work? For whatever reason he was briefly imprisoned in Genoa.

As well as Caravaggio he may also have been influenced by Velázquez who visited Genoa in 1629-30

When his mother died around 1630, Bernardo was pressured in court by the Capuchins to re-enter the order – perhaps because of his earlier commitment – or did they want him to paint in the monastery cells like Fra Angelico?  After so many years away from the the confinement of a monastery he appears to have been reluctant to re-enter the order and in 1631 he fled to Venice .

However his past haunted him  and his nickname throughout  his life was il prete Genovese (the Genoa priest)

He did have some prestigious clients requesting portraits – and his fame grew in 1640 after he had painted the composer Claudio Monteverdi – shown above and he and he painted portraits of many of the leading Venetians.

Although most of his work was based on biblical stories – he did do some genre painting such as this image of The Piper – but it was in portraying Biblical stories that he excelled .

Strozzi’s work is best described as the most perfect exponent of the conventions of Baroque painting – all his religious paintings have a level of realism in feature and form, a brazen shiny colouring never found in fresco and he uses the essential  diagonal dynamic that was so popular throughout the movement.

The Incredulity of St Thomas

 The Release of St Peter 

Having been in jail himself perhaps he empathised with St Peter when he painted the saint with this expression of glassy-eyed ecstasy – though for poor Peter it was a case of out of the frying pan into the fire – in terms of there was much worse than prison to come!

 Strozzi died on August 2, 1644 – I believe still based in Venice.