Bambocciati

(Italian: “childishnesses”) Small, anecdotal paintings of everyday life made in Rome in the mid-17th century. The genre's originator and most noteworthy exponent was the Dutch painter Pieter van Laer (1599–1642); the word derives from his nickname, Il Bamboccio (“Little Clumsy One,” reflecting his physical deformity). Van Laer arrived in Rome from Haarlem c. 1625 and influenced various other northern European painters active in Rome. Their images depicting the lower classes in humorous or grotesque ways were condemned by the leading critics and painters. The Bamboccianti (painters of bambocciati) influenced the Dutch genre painters Adriaen Brouwer and Adriaen van Ostade.

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