Bernardo Strozzi: Beyond Caravaggio
A comprehensive exhibition of the works of the Italian painter of the early Baroque, Bernardo Strozzi (1582–1644) in Tallinn. The exhibition will be co-curated by Anna Orlando from Genoa, a distinguished scholar on Bernardo Strozzi and 17th century art culture in Genoa, and Greta Koppel, a curator at the Kadriorg Art Museum.
The Bernardo Strozzi: Beyond Caravaggio exhibition, will bring together around 45 paintings and graphic works from this highly talented and versatile Italian artist, from European museums and from private collections, including masterpieces that have not been publicly displayed before. It is the first time that the two famous masterpieces by Strozzi, The Allegory of Painting (ca. 1635, Palazzo Spinola, Genoa) and the Portrait of Barbara Strozzi (?) (ca. 1640, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden) will be shown together.
The exhibition gives an overview of Strozzi’s versatile oeuvre throughout his career, focusing attention on this highly creative and skilled painter who was open to new artistic impulses and constantly experimented with different techniques and materials.
The recent conservation of a Bernardo Strozzi painting (“The Concert”, ca. 1635) in the collection of the Art Museum of Estonia brought the topic of Strozzi’s painting technique and studio practice under closer scrutiny. The topic of Bernardo Strozzi’s studio practice, as well as that of his pupils and followers will therefore receive special attention in the exhibition and will be treated thoroughly in the accompanying catalogue. The catalogue (due to be published in March 2025) provides thematically new insights into Strozzi’s art; it includes essays and catalogue entries on each exhibited work that reflect the most recent research on Bernardo Strozzi, carried out by Anna Orlando.
In the framework of the exhibition, an international seminar that looks into the early modern artist’s studio practices in Europe will be held in Tallinn on 9 May 2025.
As the title of the exhibition ‒ Bernardo Strozzi: Beyond Caravaggio – indicates, this exhibition focuses attention on this outstanding painter, who was active in the age of Caravaggio and rode the wave of Caravaggio popularity, but managed to leave his own highly individual artistic signature.
