Faustino Bocchi (1659–1742) was an Italian painter, active in

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

, who specialized in bizarre paintings of dwarfs.

Biography

He was son of Giacomo and Giulia Faioni, and was born in Brescia on June 17, 1659. It is not known if Bocchi ever moved from Brescia; Carboni, albeit with great uncertainty, cited a stay at the court of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, a stay that seems unlikely given the absolute silence of the Atoldi who also cited the three works painted by Bocchi for that court. What is certain is that Bocchi had a quiet life, and his study was presented as a sought-after place for cheerful conversationalists, enlivened by the music of the

zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...

of which he was a good player. Bocchi was a pupil of

Angelo Everardi Angelo Everardi (5 August 1647 – 1678)Maria Adelaide Baroncelli, ''Jan de Herdt e le origini del Fiammenghino'', Saggi e Memorie di storia dell'arte Saggi e Memorie di storia dell'arte Vol. 4 (1965), pp. 7, 9-24, 133-141 (26 pages) was a paint ...

(''il Fiamminghino'' or ''Fiammenghino''), a figurist, a painter of battles and

bambocciate The ''Bamboccianti'' were genre painters active in Rome from about 1625 until the end of the seventeenth century. Most were Dutch and Flemish artists who brought existing traditions of depicting peasant subjects from sixteenth-century Netherland ...

, who instructed him in these three genres; while the document Vinaccesi states that Bocchi was initially formed under Carlo Baciocchi and only later, when he became a friar, passed under Everardi: it was however a period short, completed in the year 1678 with the death of the master. Bocchi's paintings were generally seen as humorous or satirical, and often scabrous pieces, though some resemble the decorative conceits of

Arcimboldo Giuseppe Arcimboldo (; also spelled ''Arcimboldi'') (1526 or 1527 – 11 July 1593) was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish and books. These w ...

, while others suggest the nightmarish world of

Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...

. Cristiani cites this as the "capricious particularity to represent with his master paint-brush: the battles, the fights, the games, the dances, the feasts, and triumphs of the pygmies". By some Bocchi is described as a

genre painter Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached ...

of the

Bamboccianti The ''Bamboccianti'' were genre painters active in Rome from about 1625 until the end of the seventeenth century. Most were Dutch and Flemish artists who brought existing traditions of depicting peasant subjects from sixteenth-century Netherland ...

, specifically a ''Bambocciate di nani'' or ''arte pigmeo''. His paintings were highly prized by Bergamesque collectors such as Giacomo Carrara and Ludovico Ferronati.

Enrico Albricci Enrico Albrici (1714–1775) was an Italian painter of the late Baroque. His surname is alternatively spelled or Alberici or Albrizzi or Albricci. He was born at Vilminore di Scalve in province of Bergamo, and was a pupil of Ferdinando del Cairo ...

is said to have been Bocchi's pupil for a spell. Bocchi died in Brescia on April 27, 1741.

References

Painting at parish church of Zogno
* * *
The Metropolitan Museum: The Eighteenth Century in Italy
Volume 1, By Jacob Bean and Felice Stampfle, page 23. 1659 births 1742 deaths 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 18th-century Italian painters Painters from Brescia Italian Baroque painters 18th-century Italian male artists {{Italy-painter-17thC-stub