Strozzi, Bernardo (1581-1644)

Italian painter and engraver. He was active in Venice, working with a Venetian richness of colour. He painted a number of portraits in the style of Michelangeo Merisi Caravaggio.

Strozzi was a Franciscan friar for some time in early life but left the order when he was 29 to support his mother and sister. On the death of his mother and the marriage of his sister, he refused to obey the order to return and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. He escaped to Venice, however, and spent his later life there as a painter.