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| Bernardo Strozzi Design for a silver basin with scenes from the life of Cleopatra ca. 1613-24 oil on canvas Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
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| Bernardo Strozzi (designer) Basin with scenes from the life of Cleopatra ca. 1620-25 silver, made in Genoa, possibly by Francesco Fanelli Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Bernardo Strozzi St John the Baptist questioned about Christ ca. 1618-20 oil on canvas National Trust, Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire |
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| Bernardo Strozzi Release of St Peter from Prison ca. 1635 oil on canvas Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney |
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| Bernardo Strozzi Annunciation ca. 1644 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
"Born to impoverished parents in Genoa, Bernardo Strozzi trained under the Sienese painter Pietro Sorri (1556-1622), who was in Genoa around 1595-1597. Strozzi entered the Capuchin order in 1599 as a novice and became a brother in 1600, an obligation that, though brief, was to haunt him throughout his entire career. By 1609, Strozzi was granted a dispensation to leave the Monastery when his mother fell ill and his unmarried sister was without support. He immediately devoted himself full-time to painting and to various projects as an engineer for the port of Genoa. . . . Strozzi, who was also called "Cappuccino," continued as an independent artist through the 1620s, until, after his mother died in 1630, the brothers of San Barnaba demanded that Strozzi complete his obligation to the Capuchin order. In 1630, Strozzi was brought before the procurator of the order who denied his request to become a Canon Regular of the Lateran (the Augustinians of San Teodoro) and ordered him to return to the Franciscan Minorites. Despite safe conducts and extensions of Strozzi's dispensation, which came through the intervention of the Roman Curia and the Genoese Senate, he appears to have had to choose between imprisonment and flight. The date and circumstances of his departure for Venice are hotly contested. . . . Recent discoveries of family documents place the artist in Genoa as late as 1632. . . . In 1633 Strozzi requested and was granted a safe conduct by the Savio della Serenissima [of Venice] on the basis of his being "persecuted" by the papal court in Rome. Within two years, Strozzi rose to a position of celebrity and esteem [in Venice], as he was granted the title of "Monsignor" (and known more popularly as "Prete genovese"). . . . He finished his career as he began it, working both as painter and engineer. Bernardo Strozzi died in Venice in 1644."
– extracts from the artist's biography as published in the Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
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| Bernardo Strozzi Adoration of the Shepherds ca. 1615 oil on canvas Walters Art Museum, Baltimore |
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| Bernardo Strozzi Charity of St Lawrence 1639-40 oil on canvas Chiesa di San Nicolò da Tolentino, Venice |
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| Bernardo Strozzi St Veronica 1620-25 oil on canvas Museo del Prado, Madrid |
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| Bernardo Strozzi David with the Head of Goliath ca. 1631-41 oil on canvas Cincinnati Art Museum |
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| Bernardo Strozzi St Sebastian tended by St Irene and her Maid (upper portion as divided in the 17th century) ca. 1631-36 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| Bernardo Strozzi St Sebastian tended by St Irene and her Maid (lower portion as divided in the 17th century) ca. 1631-36 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| Bernardo Strozzi The Tribute Money ca. 1630-40 oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest |
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| Bernardo Strozzi The Concert ca. 1635 oil on canvas Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Bernardo Strozzi Young St John the Baptist ca. 1620-25 oil on canvas Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan |
As this sampling of paintings demonstrates, Strozzi particularly relished the representation of hands. Many artists, even in the 17th century (when techniques of rendering anatomy were far more refined and widely deployed than at present) can be observed avoiding or minimizing the depiction of the human hand in action – its expressiveness so much more difficult to render than that of the human face. The faces of Strozzi's figures actually tend to carry less of the picture's emotional weight than the supple and prominent hands.
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| Bernardo Strozzi Hand holding empty gloves ca. 1630-40 drawing National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |