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

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VINCENZO FOPPA
a branch of his Order at Pavia, came there himself in order to receive the
building from the hands of the Bishop. As the earliest Franciscan foundation
of the city,
the church soon came to be regarded with special and ever increasing
devotion by the Pavians. Among its benefactors were many distinguished
and learned men, members of the most illustrious families of Pavia, who in
life gave proof of their devotion by munificent gifts to the church, and directed
that in death their bodies, clothed in the habit of St. Francis, should be laid to
rest beneath the peaceful shadow of its sacred walls, these directions being
accompanied by large bequests for the adornment of the church and for the
good of their own souls.
In 1475 Count Augusto Beccaria, a member of that powerful family
which played so conspicuous a part in the annals of Pavia and for a considerable
time ruled the city, was buried, as directed by his will, in the chapel of
his family in S. Giacomo. His loss was mourned by the whole city which
owed so much to him, for by the terms of his will he bequeathed his vast
estates at Borgo S. Siro, Gambolo, and della Sforzesca to the Hospital of
St. Matthew at Pavia, a princely endowment which secured that institution
against all pecuniary anxiety in the future.
His wife was Zaccarina Lonati, a member of another illustrious family,
feudatory lords of Sorli, in the territory of Tortona.' As a mark of devotion
to her husband, Zaccarina determined to erect a tomb to his memory which
should be at once an eloquent proof of her affection and a worthy testimony
to his greatness and many virtues, and she therefore applied to the most celebrated
masters of the day to carry out her wishes. The result was a monument
of such magnificence that, had it been preserved, it would undoubtedly
rank as one of the chief art treasures of Pavia. Boni,^ the earliest writer who
mentions it, speaks in the first place of the inscription, which he transcribes
as follows : "The tomb of the most excellent knight Augusto Beccaria lord
of Gambolo, Tromello, and Borgo San Siro, who died on January 6, 1475, and
this is his effigy";' and beneath these words, as stated by Boni, was his
portrait sculptured in marble,'' perhaps a bust, or more probably a medallion
in relief. The writer then goes on to relate that on the front of this
wall, beneath the arch of which one passes to the sanctuary, was a fresco
1 To this family belonged Bernardino Lonati, secretary to Cardinal Ascanio Maria
Sforza (the brother of Lodovico il Moro), and in later times himself a Cardinal of the
Holy See.
^ L. Boni, Beccarice gentis Monumenta, etc., f. 23.
* " Sepulchrum prasstantissimi militis domini August! de Becharia, Gambolati,
Tromelli et Burgi Sancti Syri domini, qui obiit anno natali christiano 1475 die sexta
Januarii et eius hccc est effigies."
* " Adest ibi illius imago marmore sculpta."