The Kadriorg Art Museum presents an international high-profile exhibition celebrating the diverse oeuvre of Bernardo Strozzi, a master of the Early Italian Baroque

From 29 March, the Kadriorg Art Museum will host the international exhibition Bernardo Strozzi: Beyond Caravaggio, featuring 40 works by this key figure of the Early Italian Baroque. The works are on loan from European museums and private collections and include several pieces that have never before been on public display. Curated by Anna Orlando and Greta Koppel, the exhibition is a highlight of the jubilee year of the Kadriorg Art Museum and a gift to all art lovers as the museum celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Most of the works in the exhibition come from northern Italy, especially the artist’s native Genoa, with a few from collections in the UK, Germany, Poland and France. A particularly noteworthy inclusion that stands out for the efforts involved in bringing it to the exhibition is Strozzi’s Venetian-period masterpiece, St. Peter Cures the Lame Beggar, from the Lviv National Art Gallery named after B. G. Voznytskyi in Ukraine.

Bernardo Strozzi (1582‒1644), a painter with a religious background, was one of the most sought-after artists of his time in Genoa and Venice. He painted religious scenes, portraits, genre scenes and still lifes with equal virtuosity, and mastered a variety of painting and drawing techniques. “Strozzi stands out in art history as an open-minded and highly observant artist, who was able to skilfully synthesise new artistic impulses and influences into his own personal style, marked by naturalism and dynamic brushwork,” says the exhibition’s curator, Greta Koppel. She argues that Strozzi has been unfairly overshadowed by Caravaggio.

The exhibition Bernardo Strozzi: Beyond Caravaggio is the first time that the Kadriorg Art Museum has collaborated with museums and private collections in Genoa, largely thanks to the exhibition’s Italian curator, Anna Orlando, the world’s leading expert on Bernardo Strozzi. Orlando is delighted with the collaboration: “The greatest ambition of an art historian is to make the results of her research accessible to a wider audience. Therefore, this exhibition is a significant achievement for me, as I can contribute to the international recognition of one of the most outstanding representatives of the Genoese painting school. I feel like an ambassador for the culture and beauty of my home-town, Genoa.”

Aleksandra Murre, the director of the Kadriorg Art Museum, believes that the impact of this exhibition will extend far beyond the three months of enjoyment it offers to the museum’s visitors. “This exhibition represents a significant contribution to the study of Bernardo Strozzi. While his works feature in the permanent collections of major art museums worldwide, monographic exhibitions have so far been limited to Genoa, his birthplace, where most of his works are housed. There has been just one exhibition outside of Italy: in Baltimore, USA, in 1995. The Tallinn exhibition is thus the first large-scale survey exhibition of the artist’s work outside Italy, made even more notable by the fact that it is an Estonian initiative, brought to life with the help of the Italian curator Anna Orlando,” says Murre.

The exhibition was inspired by Concert, a painting attributed to Bernardo Strozzi in the collection of the Art Museum of Estonia. The decision to conserve the painting, to examine it more closely, and to clarify its attribution also marked the starting point of the exhibition.

While the exhibition is a survey of Bernardo Strozzi’s genius through his most celebrated and defining works, it is also a monographic exploration that brings into focus some hitherto overlooked themes: the development of Strozzi’s style and workshop practices, his technical experiments and genre innovations, and his profound understanding and original interpretation of Caravaggio’s principles.

The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated book and a varied public programme. The programme will also feature an international seminar at the Kadriorg Art Museum on 9 May, focusing on artists’ studio practices in Europe in the Early Modern period.

Bernardo Strozzi: Beyond Caravaggio will remain open at the Kadriorg Art Museum until 6 July 2025.

Curators: Anna Orlando and Greta Koppel
Exhibition design: Kaarel Eelma
Graphic design: Tuuli Aule
Registrar: Helen Volber