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

82 VINCENZO FOPPA
istic example, and marks a new phase in the painter's development, in which
he shows himself in closest sympathy with plastic art. The whole conception,
the modelling of the flesh, the treatment of the forms and of the drapery,
exhibit an intimate connection with terra-cotta and marble bas-reliefs,
a proof
not so much of the influence of sculptors on Foppa as of his desire to emulate
and surpass them by the mastery of his brush. Painting" and sculpture, as
Morelli pointed out, often curiously reflect one another at this epoch ;' many
plastic works in the Castello Museum at Milan, in the churches at Brescia and
Pavia, and in other places, so vividly recall Foppa as to produce the effect of
pictures in stone by the master. But in this little painting the reverse is the
case ; here Vincenzo has evidently set himself the task of translating into the
language of graphic art the forms and modes of expression of sculpture, and
has solved the manifold difficulties of such an undertaking with remarkable
success. From this point of view the picture is a masterpiece, and within the
narrow limits of this small panel Foppa has attained to a point of perfection in
modelling and plastic rendering of form which he did not always reach in his
more ambitious work. Against the clear blue of the sky which forms the
background, the head of the Madonna stands out in wonderful relief; the
flesh, warmer in tone than usual, with grey shadows and sharp touches of
altarpiece for the Hospital at Pavia executed by Giacomo de Maino, the Pavian woodcarver,
and they are valued by two Pavian carvers, Gian Pietro Fugazza and Agostino
Grassi. We gather that the latter first inspected the deed appointing them to the office
of valuers in order to make sure of the extent of their authority in the matter. They
then carefully examined the whole work, " not once, but repeatedly," discussed it thoroughly
both amongst themselves and with those concerned in it, and having further
heard and seen everything which could possibly bear upon the question and given the
matter mature consideration, and after taking the oath and invoking the name of Christ,
they pronounced that Giacomo was to receive 300 lire imp. and no more as the value of his
work. " Prius per eos magistros estimatores viso compromisso ac potestate et baylia in
illo et per illud eis attributa : Item visis etoculis corporeis subiectis suprascriptis portis
et suprascripta anchona ac diligenter consideratis non semel sed pluries,
et participato
insimul inter se ipsos de et pro predictis, et auditis dictis partibus semel et pluries,
ac denique visis et auditis omnibus et singulis his que videnda et audienda fuerunt et
sunt in predictis : et super ipsis omnibus et singulis matura et diligenti deliberatione
prehabita, Christi nomine invocato, in hiis scriptis retulerunt et referunt suprascriptos
Agentes pro dicto Hospitali dare debere dicto Magistro Jacobo pro eius mercede et
retributione suprascriptarum portarum et anchone in summa libras tercentum imperiales
et tantumdem et non ultra ipsum Magistrum Jacobum meruisse et mereri pro ejus
manufactura dictarum portarum et anchone. Et ita dicunt et referunt cum eorum juramento
per eos prestito, in manibus mei notarii infrascripti, ad Sancta Dei Evangelia,
manu corporaliter tactis Scripturis et pro veritate" (Arch. Not. Pavia. Atti di Francesco
Strazzapatti, pacco 1486-90).
^
Italian Painters, II, p. 6.