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

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

, 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 ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, 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 Zither (; , from the Greek ''cithara'') is a class of stringed instruments. The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a ...

of which he was a good player. Bocchi was a pupil of Angelo Everardi (''il Fiamminghino'' or ''Fiammenghino''), a figurist, a painter of battles and bambocciate, 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, while others suggest the nightmarish world of

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

. 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) is the painting of genre art, which 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 ca ...

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 Netherl ...

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

Giacomo Carrara Giacomo () is an Italian given name corresponding to English James. It is the Italian version of the Hebrew name Jacob. People bearing the name include: * Giacomo Acerbo (1888–1969), Italian economist and Fascist politician * Giacomo Agostini ...

and Ludovico Ferronati. Enrico Albricci 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 Painters from the Republic of Venice 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