Bernardo Strozzi
(1581 - 1644) |
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Secular Narratives, Historic Narratives, Mythological Narratives Art Work
| Name: |
Bernardo Strozzi |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Genoa |
| Nationality: |
Italian |
| Birth: |
1581 |
| Death: |
1644 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
Secular Narratives, Historic Narratives, Mythological Narratives |
| Medium: |
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| Method: |
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| Style: |
Baroque |
| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painting
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Biography
| The leading Genoese/Venetian painter of his generation, Bernardo Strozzi is still admired for his visceral and immediate handling of paint which enlivens his images, lifting them above and apart from their time. Aside from his importance to Genoese painting, Strozzi's contribution to Venetian painting cannot be underestimated; he revitalized a flagging local school and became an influence that lasted through the eighteenth century. A pupil of the Sienese painter Pietro Sorri who was active in Genoa between 1595 and 1597, Strozzi also studied with Cesare Corte. In 1597 Strozzi entered the Capuchin order, but he left in 1610 to care for his ailing mother. His refusal to return to the monastery after his mother's death (1630) caused his arrest and imprisonment, according to some sources, while others state that Strozzi chose to join the Lateran Canons Regular. Regardless of which is true, in 1630 Strozzi was granted a dispensation to travel to Venice, where he became a monsignor in 1635. Called "II Prete Genovese," Strozzi painted numerous official portraits. He made his will on 1 August 1644 and was buried the next day. Like all gifted artists, Strozzi absorbed and transformed numerous sources to form his own style. Genoa in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century afforded a particularly rich visual experience, and it is likely Strozzi also traveled to expand his knowledge. From roughly 1607 to 1620 the work of Barocci, Procaccini, and Crespi is evident in Strozzi's style. After about 1625 he responded to Caravaggism, in particular through the work of Domenico Fiasella, who came to Genoa in 1618 from Rome. Orazio Gentileschi was also in Genoa around that time; Hendrick Ter Brugghen (in Italy from 1604 to 1614) was another undoubted influence. The absence of securely documented pictures makes Strozzi's exact chronology and development problematical. But his general shift from the mannerist tendency of his early years to the absorption of Venetian art after 1630 is clearly evident. Strozzi early on concentrated on single figures, often female, representing a saint or a symbol. Among these, St. Catherine (ca. 1610, Hartford Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum) is of exceptional beauty. Here his mannerist heritage, personally interpreted and not without a receptive eye cast at the work of Beccafumi, is evident. Other masterpieces from Strozzi's early period include The Dead Christ (Genoa, Accademia Ligustica) and Violinist (Genoa, Galleria di Palazzo Bianco), both of which share the rather sharply turned drapery, the succulent handling of paint, and the distinct characterization of the figures. Between 1615 and 1630 Strozzi responded to the Flemish influences that were prevalent in Genoa at that time (particularly Rubens* and van Dyck), as well as to the paintings of Giulio Cesare Procaccini (whose Last Supper was in the Genoese church of S. Siro). The shift in Strozzi's style is evident in the Adoration of the Shepherds (Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery), as well as the three paintings Strozzi produced for the Church of S. Annunziata del Vastato: The Feast at Emmaus; The Denial of St. Peter, Joseph Recounting His Dreams. Genre subjects (inspired by Dutch and Flemish sources) also begin to appear in his oeuvre around this time, a notable example being The Old Woman before a Mirror (Allegory of Vanity) (Moscow, Pushkin Museum). Other genre scenes include The Cook and The Pipers (Genoa, Palazzo Rosso), which demonstrate his assimilation of Rubens and Ter Brugghen. As Strozzi matured, his brushwork became more assured, his palette lightened, his tonal values more subtle (or more daring), and the images became more solid, as well as increasingly bathed in light and atmosphere. His development can be traced in his surviving preparatory model I i (Genoa, Accademia Ligustica) for the destroyed fresco of Paradise (which Strozzi painted in 1625 for the Church of S. Domenico) and in his Altarpiece of the Instituto Sordomuti (dated 1629). Strozzi's most important surviving fresco commission was painted for the Palazzo Centurione de Carpineto at San Pier d1 Arena between 1623 and 1625. Also active as a portrait painter, Strozzi left behind a fine group of likenesses that are now preserved in Turin, Milan, and Genoa. Upon his arrival in Venice Strozzi quickly absorbed the strong Venetian palette, while his painterly inclinations were also reinforced by local traditions. The work from his Venetian period is considered particularly splendid, his color becoming more vibrant and intense, his images combining vigour and intensity of expression with the greatest delicacy and sensuality of execution. Strozzi soon became the leading portrait painter in Venice and received many official commissions. He also continued his single-figure compositions, of which The Lute Player (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum) is a particularly fine example. Alluding to the sense of hearing, the painting is a masterful portrayal of tactile sensuality; the figures delicately play over the instrument's strings, while the rapt expression of the musician and the vivacious application of paint give the whole a sense of spontaneity balanced by meditative ness. Among Strozzi's most important Venetian commissions were the Allegory of Sculpture, done for ihe Marciana Library in 1635, and his portrait of Doge Francesco Erizzo, done in 1631 (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum). His important religious and mythological subjects include Rape of Europa (Poznan, National Museum) and Martyrdom of St. Sebastian (Venice, S. Benedetto). His surviving oeuvre of altarpieces, full-sized figures, half-length compositions, and portraits is extensive, estimated at about 500 works. Strozzi also inspired innumerable followers, notably Maffei. His Genoese pupils, Giovanni de Ferrari and Antonio Travi, as well as his Venetian students (Armanno Strioffi, 1616-93), helped influence the development of later painting. Moreover, the careers of major eighteenthcentury artists such as Piazzetta cannot be understood without Strozzi. For purely painted surfaces and beauty of colors, as well as the somber melancholy which pervades his work, no one excels him. |
Samples of Work
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