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

8o
VINCENZO FOPPA
find at the end of the volume a page headed "Additions to be made after
revision," and among the entries the following: "In the Church of the
Maddalena to add : the altarpiece by Giugno representing the Magdalen borne
upwards by six angels which was painted for the purpose of being placed
above the High Altar, when it was reconstructed, in place of the picture by
Foppa."
Thus Faini, to whom we owe the information that a picture painted by
Foppa in 1472 was still in existence at Brescia in the seventeenth century, is
also the only writer who records the reason of its removal—namely, in order
to make way for a work by the decadent painter Francesco Giugno (d. 1636).
Foppa's picture was then no doubt placed in some less prominent position in
the church or in the sacristy, and was soon forgotten. This explains why
neither Paglia, Averoldi, nor any other writer on the paintings of Brescia
mention the picture by Foppa ; but all speak of the altarpiece of S. Maria
Maddalena as the work of Giugno, We have no clue as to the subsequent fate
of Foppa's altarpiece, which from Faini's description may in some particulars
have resembled the polyptych for S. Maria delle Grazie at Bergamo, being
composed of single figures of saints in different compartments.
After completing the altarpiece at Brescia, Foppa most probably returned
to his home at Pavia, and he appears to have been at Milan in 1473. We
know that he, with other painters, was deputed about this time to value
certain frescoes in the Castello di Porta Giovia in that city, and as far as we
can judge from facts at present known, the valuation took place in that year.
In 1472^ Stefano de' Fedeli was painting in the lower chapel of the Castello,
and in a document of January, 1474,^ it is stated that Giacomo Vismara and
his companions were to be paid for their work in this chapel, which was
completed in 1473. It was valued on July 13 of that year by three masters,
whose names are not given. From an undated petition of Stefano de' Fedeli,
praying to be paid for his share of this work, which he states was the sixth
part of the lower chapel,* we gather that he was one of Vismara's companions.
According to this document, the frescoes were valued by fotir masters,
and confusing and involved as these records are, it nevertheless seems clear
that this must have been the valuation spoken of in July, 1473 ; the names of
the four masters are given as : Vincenzo Foppa, Cristoforo Moretto, Stefano
de' Magistris, and Battista Montorfano,* the two latter having also valued
^
See Beltr., Castello, 283; Emporium, Nov., 1898, p. 10; and Malaguzzi, op. ciL, p. 84,
who state that the valuation took place in 1472, which does not appear certain from the
documents.
•»
2 Beltr.,
^
283. Ibid., 319.
Ibid., 379.
^
The lower chapel, called also Cappella Ducale and dedicated to S. Donate, was
situated on the ground floor looking into the Corte Ducale ;
parallel to it was the Saletta