Faustino Bocchi

Place: Brescia

Born: 1659

Death: 1741

Biography:

Faustino Bocchi was an Italian painter, active in Brescia, who specialized in bizarre paintings of dwarfs. He was born in Brescia on June 17, 1659, and died in Brescia on April 27, 1741. 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. 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. 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 of the Bamboccianti, 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 is said to have been Bocchi's pupil for a spell.