Saint Anthony of Padua holding the Infant Jesus

Bernardo Strozzi's Saint Anthony of Padua Holding the Infant Jesus was painted around 1625, during the Genoese phase of his career before his move to Venice in 1631. The subject was among the most popular in Italian Baroque devotional painting: Anthony of Padua, the Portuguese Franciscan who became the patron saint of lost things, was traditionally depicted holding the Christ Child after a legendary vision. Strozzi brings his characteristically robust physicality to the subject — the Christ Child is not a delicate infant but a solid, animated presence — while the saint's face is rendered with the same direct observation he brought to his genre figures. The picture in Strasbourg demonstrates how Strozzi could move between sacred and secular subjects while maintaining a consistent painterly approach.

Strozzi's brushwork is broad and energetic, with the heavy impasto of the saint's habit contrasting with the warmer, softer flesh of the Christ Child. Light falls strongly from one side, modeling both faces in rounded relief. The palette centers on warm browns and creamy whites, with touches of red in the Christ Child's cloth.