Bernhard Keil, called Monsù Bernardo Helsingör 1624 - 1687 Rome

A Danish painter of German descent, Keil was trained in Copenhagen and later in Amsterdam with Rembrandt, but spent most of his career in Italy, where he first traveled in 1651.  Living first in Venice for five years, and then in Rome until his death, Keil obtained numerous commissions, for religious pictures and portraits in particular.  However, scholarly study of his works has thus far focused mainly on his output of genre pictures, some of which carry allegorical or moralizing dimensions.  In this picture, the influences of Rembrandt and Venetian painters are discernable, as well as the artist's personal interpretation of these different styles.