Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644), Allegory of Music, Oil on canvas, 126 x 99 cm, Kadriorg Museum, Tallinn, on short-term loan from Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
When Bernardo Strozzi, a former Capuchin monk from Genoa, arrived in Venice in 1633, he entered a city where music was omnipresent—sacred, theatrical, and increasingly experimental. Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) was still active at San Marco, shaping the expressive language of early Baroque music. Francesco Cavalli (1602–1676) emerged as a defining voice in opera, while Giovanni Rovetta (c. 1595–1668) extended Monteverdi’s legacy. Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677), though early in her career, was already part of the city’s dynamic musical and intellectual circles.
The iconography of this sensual portrait reflects a complex Venetian tradition of allegory in early modern art, especially the personification of the creative arts. Music, like Painting, Poetry, or Rhetoric, was often portrayed as an idealised, sensual woman—part muse, part symbol—blending intellectual grace with erotic presence. These figures drew on diverse visual types: the Bella Donna, mythological goddesses like Flora, prophetic Sibyls, and Christian saints such as Cecilia. In all cases, beauty functioned as a metaphor—for inspiration, harmony, divine truth, or refined leisure. The woman here, with her viola da gamba, unfastened gown, and composed gaze, is not a portrait but a visual synthesis of these overlapping traditions: an allegory of music, yes, but also of sensual perception, introspection, and the aesthetic ideals that defined Baroque culture.
It has often been suggested that the painting is a portrait of the composer Barbara Strozzi, but the identification remains speculative. Bernardo Strozzi did paint her father, the poet and librettist Giulio Strozzi (c. 1583–1652), a key figure in Venice’s intellectual and operatic circles, though the two artists were not related, despite sharing a surname. Interestingly, works of such sensual character were often displayed alongside religious paintings in private collections, reflecting the Baroque ability to hold beauty, piety, and desire in harmonious coexistence.
