Vincenzo Foppa of Brescia, founder of the Lombard school, his life ...

58 VINCENZO FOPPA
chapel.' The picture still hangs on the wall of the chapel and bears the inscription
'* Pigellus Portinarius nobilis Florentinus huius sacelli a fundamentis
erector a.d. 1462," and though entirely repainted, it is to be assumed
that the inscription reproduces the one originally placed upon the panel; as
the date of the foundation here named, coincides with that given by the earliest
writers, it may be accepted as correct, in spite of Torre's statement that the
chapel was built in 1464."
As in the case of the Medici Bank, we have no certain information
respecting the architect, though here again the Florentine element, blended
with Lombard tendencies, is conspicuous. The connection with a group
of Florentine buildings, and especially with Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel,
has often been pointed out ; and many earlier writers asserted that the
architect of the Portinari Chapel took that of the Pazzi family in S. Croce
as his model ; but Senatore Beltrami, one of the greatest authorities on the
Portinari Chapel, and indeed on all matters relating to Milanese and Lombard
buildings, has shown that although the general plan of construction
follows the same principles as those commonly employed for ecclesiastical
buildings in Tuscany, and although there is great affinity between the architectural
and decorative features of the Pazzi and Portinari chapels, "the
ground plan, which more than anything else would serve to prove a derivation
of the St. Peter Martyr from the Pazzi Chapel, is, as a matter of
fact, different."^ Michelozzo is often named as the architect and as the
author of the beautiful terra-cotta angels who move round the drum of the
cupola with slow and rhythmic movements, holding ropes from which are
suspended bells of fruit. They involuntarily recall many Florentine motives
in painting, terra-cotta, and marble ;
in this case, as Herr Meyer pointed out,*
they seem to give plastic expression to Filarete's description of the reception
of a prince in the palace of Carindo by a company of children, who greet
1 See De Pagave, op. cit.^ Vol. IV, pp. 329, 330; Arch. Stor. delV Arie, 1892,
p. 274, etc.
^ Torre, Ritratto di Milano, ed. 1674, p. 92. Giulini, it may be noted (VI, p. 548),
correcting Latuada, who gave the date of the foundation of the chapel as 1462, states
that in the inscription on the picture the date was originally 1362, but was afterwards
corrected. An examination of the inscription, however, proves conclusively that
Giulini was mistaken.
* Italian Wall Decoration, p. 22. See also Meyer, op. cit., I, p. iii, who gives an
illustration of the ground plan of both chapels ; Romussi, JMilano nei suoi Monumenti,
II, plate 8 ; Archivio Stor. dell' Arte, 1892, p. 267 and foil. ; Arte Italiana
Decorativa, 1895, IV, No. 9, p. 75; Emporium, VIII, No. 47, November, 1898; Architectural
Revieiv, Vol. VIII, 1900.
*
Op. cit., I, p. 106.