Lot 208: Dwarves rescuing a child from a chicken

Faustino Bocchi (Brescia 1659-1741)
Dwarves rescuing a child from a chicken
oil on canvas, unlined
7½ x 14¾ in. (19 x 37.5 cm.)

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According to Lanzi, Bocchi was a pupil of Angelo Everardi, called Fiamminghino, which would account for his clear knowledge of Flemish 'low-life' painting, visible, for example, in the way in which his subjects recall those of Hieronimus Bosch. The artist probably knew the work of Bosch from the engravings after his compositions which were popular in the seventeenth century. Other sources for his satirical depictions of dwarves were the engravings by Jacques Callot, the caricature drawings of his Florentine predecessor, Baccio del Bianco, and perhaps also through Pier Leone Ghezzi, who was an exact contemporary in Rome. However, Bocchi developed a highly personal genre, whose originality is illustrated by the fact that it predates Swift's famous book Gulliver's Travels. When it was first published in 1726 the artist was already sixty-seven, however he soon learned about the stories of the Lilliputians, several of which he depicted.