Incredulity of Saint Thomas

Strozzi's Incredulity of Saint Thomas from 1644, held by the Musei di Strada Nuova, was painted in the final year of his life — making it one of the last works he completed before his death in Venice that year. The Thomas subject had been treated by Caravaggio with unflinching tactility in the early seventeenth century, and subsequent Baroque painters worked in the shadow of that definitive treatment. Strozzi's version, returning to his Genoese patron base or possibly a Venetian commission, shows his continuing ability to manage the charged moment of Christ guiding Thomas's doubting hand. The Strada Nuova setting connects the work to the high-point of Baroque Genoese collecting culture.

Canvas with the mature Strozzi technique: broad brushwork in the drapery, careful modelling in the face and hands — the compositional focal point. The wound in Christ's side is handled with enough specificity to register as real without dominating the picture's spiritual message. Warm chiaroscuro models the figures against a dark background.