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

72 VINCENZO FOPPA
and ecclesiastical throughout his dominion. He took the keenest personal
interest in the progress of these works, and gave minute instructions to Gadio,
his Commissioner General, and others, as to the manner in which they were
to be carried out ; occasionally, indeed, he himself drew up a list of the subjects
to be treated, interviewed the painters, and passed judgment upon their
designs. The result of this close supervision, by one so critical and sagacious
in matters of art as Galeazzo Maria, must have had the best possible
results in raising the standard to a very high level and in encouraging the
keenest competition among the best masters at his Court. Inferior painters
would have had little chance ;
yet among the throng of artists employed there
we find Vincenzo still in the first rank, and maintaining at the Court of
Galeazzo Maria the same high position which he had won for himself under
Francesco Sforza.
The first document we have relating to Foppa in the new reign is a ducal
letter of May 12, 1466 (Doc. No. 11), of which Vincenzo himself is the bearer,
addressed to the Commissioner of the works of S. Maria delle Grazie at Monza,
and relating to a " Maesta " which the Duke desires that Foppa should paint
there. Francesco Sforza had manifested great interest in the building of this
church, which was begun in 1461
;' in all probability he had intended having
an altarpiece painted by Foppa, but he died before he was able to carry out
his intentions. Galeazzo lost no time in fulfilling his father's wishes, as we
see from this letter, which was written less than two months after his accession.
From it we learn that Vincenzo is to receive as earnest money twenty
gold ducats, and he binds himself to ask for no more until the whole work is
completed. The Duke directs that the money be paid to Foppa, and bids the
authorities see to it,
that the matter be not unnecessarily delayed.
It was formerly supposed that this painting was merely an " Immagine," a
simple votive picture ordered by the young Duke ;"
but from the letter of May
12 we must infer that it was a much more important work, namely, a large
altarpiece, for which "Maesta"' was the generic name. The amount of the
earnest money—five ducats more than Vincenzo received at Genoa when he
contracted to paint a whole chapel—would point to a work of greater magnitude
than a simple votive picture.^ There is no reason to doubt that a work
in which Galeazzo took so warm an interest was executed ;
and in all probability
the Duke, who in August, 1468, was staying with his newly married
^
Gonzaga, De Origine Seraphicce Religionis Franciscance^ Pars. II, 347.
2 Beltrami, op. cit., Emporium, Nov., 1898.
3 The word *' Maesta " is still used in the Pavian dialect to describe any representation
of the Madonna or saints. See also chap, iv, p. 104 and note 3.
* Senatroe Beltrami seems now to be of the opinion that it was an altarpiece (see
Italian Wall Decoration, p. 28).