a prominent and prolific Italian Baroque painter born and active mainly in Genoa, and also active in Venice. Strozzi was born in Genoa. In 1598, at the age of 17, he joined a Capuchin monastery, a reform branch of the Franciscan order. When his father died, 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. In 1625, he was charged with illegally practicing as a painter. When his mother died, 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.
