thumb|250px|right|the piper bernardo strozzi (c. 1581 &ndash; august 2, 1644) was a prominent and prolific italian baroque painter born and active mainly in genoa, and also active in venice. ==biography== strozzi was born in genoa. he was probably not related to the florentine strozzi family. in 1598, at the age of 17, he joined a capuchin monastery, a reform branch of the franciscan order. when his father died c. 1608, he left the order to care for his mother, earning their living with his paintings, which were often influenced by franciscan teachings, for example his adoration of the shepherds (c. 1615).adoration of shepherds at the walters art museum, baltimore in 1625, he was charged with illegally practicing as a painter. when his mother died c. 1630, bernardo was pressured in court by the capuchins to re-enter the order. he was briefly imprisoned in genoa, and upon release fled to venice to avoid confinement in a monastery in 1631. he became nicknamed all his life as il prete genovese (the genoa priest).  early paintings, such as the ecstasy of st francisecstasy of st francis at philbrook museum show the dark emotionalism of caravaggio. but by the second decade of the 17th century, while working in venice, strozzi had synthesized a personal style which fused painterly influences of the north (including rubens and veronese) with a monumental, realistic starkness. for example, in the painting the incredulity of thomas, the background is muted, yet jesus' face, haloed and his outline, misty, in a style atypical of caravaggio.incredulity of saint thomas at compton verney museum never as dark as the caravaggisti, venice infused his painting with a gentler edge, a style more acceptable to the local patronage, and one derived from his precursors in venice, jan lys (died 1629) and domenico fetti (died 1626), who had also fused the influence of caravaggio into venetian art. examples of this style can be found in his parable of the wedding guests (1630),parable of the wedding guests at the national gallery, australiachrist giving keys of heaven to saint peter (1630),christ giving keys of heaven at university wisconsin gallery saint lawrence distributing alms at san nicolÃ² da tolentino,[http:/
1580s_births 1644_deaths 16th-century_Italian_painters 17th-century_Italian_painters Capuchins Genoese_painters Italian_Baroque_painters People_from_Genoa