Saint Dominic's Vision

Dated 1620 and held by the Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti in Genoa, this painting shows the founding vision of Saint Dominic, to whom the Virgin appeared and gave the rosary as a weapon against heresy — a scene of particular importance in post-Tridentine Catholicism, where the rosary had been revived as a devotional practice after the Battle of Lepanto (1571). Strozzi was still a Capuchin friar in 1620 — he would not fully break with the order and face house arrest until the mid-1620s — and his religious commissions from this period carry an authentic spiritual intensity. The Accademia Ligustica, founded in 1751, holds a significant number of works that remained in Genoa, offering a rare chance to see Strozzi in the civic context of his formation. His handling here echoes the emotional directness promoted by Carlo Borromeo's reform decrees, which called for images that move the faithful to piety.

Oil on canvas with a warm, restricted palette dominated by crimson, ivory and dark green. The composition is vertically structured — the earthly figure of Dominic below, the celestial apparition above — creating a clear visual hierarchy. Lighting is concentrated, isolating the saint's upturned face against darkness.