Bernardo Strozzi

Luxoro collection, Nervi, by 1947;

Private collection, Genoa, by 1966.

Genoa, Palazzo Reale, Mostra della Pittura del '600 e '700 in Liguria, 21 June – 30 September 1947, no. 51.

A. Morassi (ed.), Mostra della Pittura del '600 e '700 in Liguria, exh. cat., Genoa 1947, p. 50, no. 51 (as Bernardo Strozzi);

L. Mortari, 'Su Bernardo Strozzi', in Bollettino d'Arte, XL, 1955, p. 330 (as Bernardo Strozzi);

A.M. Matteucci, 'L'attività veneziana di Bernardo Strozzi', in Arte Veneta, IX, 1955, p. 139, reproduced fig. 151 (as Bernardo Strozzi);

L. Mortari, Bernardo Strozzi, Rome 1966, p. 133, reproduced fig. 295 (as Bernardo Strozzi);

M.C. Galassi in Genova nell'Età Barocca, E. Gavazza and G. Rotondi Terminiello (eds), exh. cat., Genoa 1992, p. 269, under no. 165 (as a version after a Strozzi prototype);

L. Mortari, Bernardo Strozzi, Rome 1995, pp. 167–68, no. 388 (as Bernardo Strozzi);

A. Orlando in Bernardo Strozzi; Genova 1581/82–Venezia 1644, E. Gavazza, G.N. Sciré and G. Rotondi Terminiello (eds), exh. cat., Genoa 1995, p. 266, under no. 84;

W.R. Rearick, 'Bernardo Strozzi: un aggiornamento', in Saggi e Memorie di storia dell'arte, vol. 20, 1996, p. 274, n. 133 (as a replica, possibly by Ermanno Stroiffi);

C. Manzitti, Bernardo Strozzi, Venice and New York 2013, p. 276, no. 388 (under copies and rejected attributions, an opinion subsequently revised upon seeing a high resolution image of the work);

D. Sanguineti in Bernardo Strozzi 1582 1644, La conquista del colore, A. Orlando and D. Sanguineti (eds), exh. cat., Genova 2019, p. 284, under no. 45 (as a less spontaneous sketch of no. 45).

Recently re-attributed by Camillo Manzitti to Bernardo Strozzi, this beautifully evocative and energetic work was probably painted as a bozzetto for the upper half of an altarpiece in the Church of St Leodegar, Lucerne.¹ Bathed in golden light, the Virgin is depicted standing on a dense vaporous cloud. She is encircled by a multitude of swirling putti, their figures vigorously and economically painted, appearing almost like luminous ghosts. Dated to the early 1640s, this lyrical work can be considered one of Strozzi’s latest creations, executed in Venice, where he relocated from his native Genoa in around 1631.

The perspectival foreshortening of the figure of the Virgin, painted di sotto in sù, is a telling indicator that this design was meant to be viewed from below, rather like Strozzi’s fully realised monumental altarpiece of the same subject in the Church of San Matteo, Laigueglia, also dated to his Venetian period.² Compositionally similar, it was suggested by Matteucci that both works were related.³ This hypothesis has since been discarded. Closer in association is a modello for the aforementioned altarpiece in the Church of St Leodegar, Lucerne, in a private collection, a larger composition which includes the group of Apostles in adoration.⁴ These works demonstrate a clear knowledge and understanding of the key figures in Venetian High Renaissance art, namely Titian and specifically his Assumption of the Virgin (Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice), which is echoed in this work.⁵ 

This painting has been cleaned and restored since it was last published, when it appeared in rectangular format rather than as a painted oval. We are grateful to Camillo Manzitti for endorsing the attribution to Bernardo Strozzi on the basis on digital images.

¹ Rearick 1996, p. 262 and 265, reproduced fig. 44.

² M.C. Galassi in Genoa 1995, pp. 264–65, no. 83, reproduced in colour; https://www.topfoto.co.uk/asset/127292/

³ Matteucci 1955, p. 138.

⁴ Manzitti 2013, p. 209, no. 305, reproduced.

⁵ https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assunta_(Tiziano)#/media/File:Tiziani,_assunta_01.jpg