The Sermon Of St. John The Baptist

Bernardo Strozzi received the epithet of 'the Genoese priest" when he fled to Venice in 1630. A member of the Capuchin monastery. While still in Genoa, Strozzi had studied the works of the Genoa-based painters Simon Vouet and Orazio Gentileschi, who were influenced by Caravaggio. In Venice, at the beginning of his late period, Strozzi was increasingly influenced by the works of Rubens, van Dyck and Veronese. John the Baptist explains his mission to the priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem (John 1:19–28), who eagerly ask him about his task. St. John is seen standing in front of a small group of listeners. He is characterised by the camel skin draped over his slender body and the band in his left hand, marking with the word "ecce" the beginning of the traditional reference to the Lamb of God.With his carefully chosen, close-up compositional detail, Strozzi reveals only part of the scene to the viewer. None of the figures depicted in front of a landscape is fully visible.

Bernardo Strozzi was one of the most influential Italian painters of the early 1600s, especially in Genoa and Venice. He briefly studied with a painter and antiquarian before his mother sent him to work with a Sienese painter in Genoa. Although he became a Capuchin monk and entered the monastery at San Barnabà in Genoa in 1598, he continued to paint, producing primarily devotional works.