Name Faustino Bocchi | Died 1742, Brescia, Italy | |
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Faustino Bocchi (1659–1742) was an Italian painter, active in Brescia, who specialized in bizarre paintings of dwarfs.
Biography
These were generally seen as humorous or satirical, and often scabrous pieces, though some resemble the decorative conceits of Arcimboldo, while others suggest the nightmarish world of Hieronymus Bosch. 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 he is described as a genre painter of the Bamboccianti, specifically a Bambocciate di nani or arte pigmeo.
It is said that Bocchi's paintings were highly prized by Bergamesque collectors such as Giacomo Carrara and Ludovico Ferronati. Bocchi is said to have been the pupil of Angelo Everardi (il Fiamminghino or Fiammenghino). Enrico Albricci is said to have been his pupil for a spell.
