Allegorical Figure

A bare-shouldered woman in rich blue drapery turns to face us, an expression of quiet authority on her broad, open face. Bernardo Strozzi — the Capuchin friar-turned-painter whose robust, warm palette bridged Genoa and Venice — paints this large allegorical figure with the sensuous brushwork and fleshy warmth of the great Baroque tradition, the subject’s calm gaze inviting sustained contemplation.