early 18th century
cm 130 x 90
Oil on canvas depicting San Rocco, by Bernardino de Hò from Cremona.
«The corpus of sacred paintings by Bernardino De Hò, certainly better known for his genre scenes crowded with grotesque and somewhat repulsive dwarves, includes a handsome San Rocco, played on earthy tones of browns and browns that stand out with metallic elegance against a leaden sky: a work of importance for the painter originally from Drizzona, such as not to disfigure in the catalog of Francesco Boccaccino or Angelo Massarotti. In this case the main affinities can be verified with the altarpiece in San Michele a Voltido (Madonna in glory with Saints Joseph, Jerome, Rocco and Anthony of Padua), which bears the Picenardi coat of arms and the date 1711, and with that of the following year with the
Crucifixion and Saints in San Leonardo at Villa Rocca in Pessina Cremonese".
M. Tanzi, “Selection of Ancient Masters”, exhibition catalogue, edited by M. Tanzi, Cremona 2016, pp. 21-22, tab. 29.
A pupil of Angelo Massarotti, De Hò subsequently resided in Rome for a long period. Once back home he benefits from Picenardi's commission and dedicates himself to religious compositions for numerous churches in the Cremona area. However, he is best remembered for his burlesque compositions which made him one of the first painters to spread the theme of bambocciate in northern Italy, similar to the genre treated by Faustino Bocchi from Brescia.

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