Master Paintings

Master Paintings

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 21. A group of costumed dwarfs in conversation and preparing for a battle.

Property of a Private Collector

Attributed to Faustino Bocchi

A group of costumed dwarfs in conversation and preparing for a battle

Auction Closed

May 20, 03:42 PM GMT

Estimate

10,000 - 15,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property of a Private Collector

Attributed to Faustino Bocchi

Brescia 1659-1741

A group of costumed dwarfs in conversation and preparing for a battle


oil on canvas

canvas: 20 by 26 in.; 50.8 by 66 cm.

framed: 24 by 34 ¼ in.; 61 by 87 cm.

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 11 March 1978. lot 93 (as Gian Domenico Ferretti);
There acquired by the father of the present owner.
Faustino Bocchi was active in Brescia and specialized rather narrowly in comedic or satirical genre paintings of dwarfs in strange situations. He likely trained with Angelo Everardi (1647 - 1678), called Fiamminghino, which explains Bocchi's apparent knowledge of both the works of Hieronymus Bosch and the paintings of the Flemish bamboccianti active in Italy. Scenes like the present lot were apparently sought-after by Bergamesque collectors, and most of Bocchi's oeuvre predates Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, first published in 1726.