Sleeping Child

Strozzi’s painting of a "Sleeping Child" shows his unusual colouristic and technical qualities. Against a dark background lies a small child resting on a puffy pillow. Its ruddy cheeks and the coral bracelets around its wrists – to protect it from illness – and the intensely glowing red blanket contrast the white and cream shades of dress, cap and pillow. The complexion of the face, ranging from light through deep pink to red, is meticulously elaborated, and the fabrics are modelled with a wide bristle brush. This small-scale painting with its unusual subject conveys peace and security. It has a meditative quality, inviting the viewer to pause for a moment in silence.
In this painting, Strozzi combines numerous artistic currents. His early years were marked by northern Italian influences, evident in his devotional pictures from that time – half-length figures of saints. As a painter, he was close to the Tuscan Lodovico Cigoli (1559–1613). Around 1630, he opened up his work to further early baroque trends: he owed his warm colouration with soft off-shades to Flemish painters Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) and Anthonis van Dyck (1599–1641), both of whom resided in Genoa, the latter a master of elegant portraiture. He became familiar with the sculptural style and chiaroscuro technique of Caravaggio (1571–1610) while working with Venetian artist Carlo Saraceni (between 1580 and 1585–1620), who painted particularly atmospheric night scenes. Strozzi’s later works are characterised by a freer application of paint – a connective element between the flowering of 16th and 18th century Venetian painting.

HABERSATTER Thomas: Strozzi Bernardo, Sleeping child, in: DUCKE Astrid, HABERSATTER Thomas, OEHRING Erika: Masterworks. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2015, p. 26