Bocchi and the Color of Affections

Family affections are among the most typical subjects of Amedeo Bocchi's production, who, from a very young age, revealed his artistic talent, as shown by this portrait of his brother Antioco from 1897.

To his mother Clelia, a fundamental figure in his life, Bocchi dedicates several portraits (such as those shown here from 1905, 1922 and 1936) which clearly testify to the evolution of his stylistic qualities.

In 1905 he also painted this portrait of his sister Merope: in which youth shines through woman's gaze and the tuft of hair that comes out of the hood, contrasts with the composure of the parents.

The portraits of his first wife Rita, his fellow student at the Institute of Fine Arts in Parma, who passed away in 1909, tell of a love that does not have time to mature: here she is in a wedding dress in 1906. The elegance of the figure is given by the balanced formal and chromatic contrast between the bursting dark hair and the white and luminous lightness of the dress.

In this work of 1907 the beloved is portrayed in her daily life, in a moment of rest; the sweet gaze and the thick tawny hair are caressed by luminous brush-strokes.

And again Rita in 1907, serious and frowning, as if to challenge her husband who portrays her. Her face is only slightly softened by the brightness of the white blouse.

The daughter Bianca, whom Bocchi defined as the "supreme good of my life", born in 1908 and died in 1934, was the painter's most loved subject and some of his greatest masterpieces are reserved for her: here she is portrayed at the age of two years.

The little girl grows up and her father follows her steps and expressions, dedicating portraits of immense sweetness to her like this one, painted in 1912, when Bianca was four years old.

Another image of Bianca's childhood, in 1915: sitting on the ground, with a straw hat to protect her from the sun, the child seems to observe what moves next to her, bathed in a summer light.

Now a young woman, in 1924 her father portrayed her wearing a splendid evening dress, rich in soft tones that give fluffiness to the veils of the skirt. With this painting, Bocchi won, in 1926, the gold medal at the exhibition of the female portrait in Monza.

Bianca is a young woman who grows up. Bocchi captures her in her transformations and in her innocent activities: here while she arranges a vase, in a happy call of colors among the flowers, her skirt and her lips.

And then “the most beautiful portrait”: this is how Bocchi defined Bianca with red geranium from 1928, which seems to celebrate the sweetness of a magical moment.

An elegant young woman with a string of pearls, a composed gaze, a serious and sweet expression, seated, absorbed, her hands folded in her lap: she is "Bianca in gray" from 1930, a portrait with twentieth century references.

The last portrait of an already ill Bianca is from Christmas 1932. An infinite pain can be read in the love with which her father paints her daughter: the color of her beret fails to illuminate the pale face of the girl.

To the model Niccolina, who later became his second wife, he dedicated this extraordinary portrait in 1917: the woman plays the guitar and her face opens up in a smile that looks like a song.

In a year of great creative and existential happiness for the painter, the work "Niccolina sick" from 1919 appears almost an omen of the premature death that will seize the young woman in 1923.

A moment of domestic everyday life in the garden of Villa Strohl-Fern, "The morning breakfast" of 1919, in which the mother, daughter and wife Niccolina meet together around the table in the morning light.

Finally, the niece Emilia portrayed by a 91-year-old Bocchi: it is 1974 and the distance with the previous portraits is surprising. As Ferdinando Arisi, Director of the Ricci Oddi Gallery in Piacenza, wrote about him: “His long age had allowed him to live, to die, to resurrect”.