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

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Chap. III. THE PORTINARI CHAPEL 67
Bcmbo/ Zanetto Bugati, Costantino da Vaprio (a painter who was ever
putting himself forward and who eventually stood high in the favour of
Galeazzo Maria Sforza), and Giacomo Vismara.
A certain connection is traceable between some of the paintings in the
Portinari Chapel and the much injured frescoes of what was once the Oratory
of the Collegio Castiglioni at Pavia, which were executed in 1475, and the
general plan of which was undoubtedly borrowed from the Chapel of St. Peter
Martyr. These frescoes were commissioned, according to the inscription, by
Cardinal Branda Castiglioni, nephew of his more celebrated namesake, the
founder of the college. Dr. Carotti, in his interesting article on these paintings,"
assigned them to Foppa himself,^ and the connection with the master
is undeniable ; but the execution is manifestly inferior to his own work,
and points to some feeble painter who felt his influence. The favourite
decorative motives are employed in a very attractive manner in the ceiling
the emblems of the four Evangelists are set in medallions of serpentine
and white-veined marble surrounded by a thick garland of fruit and foliage
bound by fluttering ribbons, which is also introduced on the ribs of the
vaulting.
We know from a Pavian document recently discovered, that on September
28, 1475, the four painters just alluded to of Foppa's company, came to inhabit
a house near the Collegio Castiglioni, which they rented from the Countess
Elisa Sforza Attendolo for one year, and this might lead to the supposition
that one or other of these artists was concerned in the decoration of the
Oratory, which was completed in this year. At the same time it is in no way
conclusive, for in all probability the painters took this house at Pavia in order
to be nearer to other much more important work upon which they were also
engaged—the ancona for the Chapel of the Castello and the frescoes for the
Church of S. Giacomo, with which we shall deal in the next chapter. Assuming,
however, that the frescoes of the Collegio Castiglioni may have been
executed by one of this company, there might be some grounds for connecting
the weaker paintings of the Portinari Chapel, such as the Almighty with
angels and the Assumption, with the same artist, though we should certainly
not be disposed to ascribe to this painter the very interesting compositions
'
The name of Bembo was first suggested in connection with the Portinari Chapel
in the early days of the restoration of the building. Beltrami and other writers also
consider it probable that this painter may have been one of Foppa's associates here.
2 Arch, deir Arte, Ser. II, Anno II, fasc. iv. See also Moiraghi in Atman.
Sacr., 1897; Malaguzzi, Pittori Loittbanii, 121, 122; and R. Maiocchi, Le Chiese di
Pavia, Vol. I, p. 35 and foil.
^ This distinguished writer, however, informs us that a renewed examination of
these frescoes has now induced him to modify his former opinion.