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

Chap. IV. FRESCOES OF S. GIACOMO 109
representing the Crucifixion "with all the mysteries" (i.e. the Life and
Passion of Christ), and below, on either side, were the painted portraits of
Augusto and his wife Zaccarina, that of the former closely resembling his
marble effigy on the tomb. On the wall were also inscribed some lines chronicling
the date of Augusto 's death, and the fact that the knight had chosen the
Church of S. Giacomo as the place of his burial and had bequeathed the bulk of
his property to the Hospital of St. Matthew at Pavia. At the end the painted
portraits are again referred to, and it is stated that both the frescoes and the
tomb were executed by order of the widow, Zaccarina Lonati.'
The "Mysteries of the Life and Passion of Christ" to which Boni here
alludes, as painted on the fajade of the wall separating the choir from the
body of the church, are in point of fact the frescoes with which we now
propose to deal, for they were important works of Vincenzo Foppa and
the painters of his company.
The contract between Madonna Zaccarina Lonati and these painters for
the frescoes in the Church of S. Giacomo was drawn up on July 10, 1475,
and was signed by the five masters, who bound themselves to execute the
work within a given time."
The first document we have relating to it is a formal protest made by
Madonna Zaccarina on August 5, 1476, against the conduct of Foppa and
his associates (No. 27). In this she states that she had commissioned the
masters Bonifazio Bembo, Vincenzo Foppa, Costantino da Vaprio, Giacomo
Vismara, and Zanetto Bugati to paint the Life of Christ from the Annunciation
to the Crucifixion in the Church of S. Giacomo.
The painters being then at Pavia, engaged upon the ancona for the Chapel
'
"Item supra fornicem ilium sub quo iter est in chorum euntibus ad maius sacellum,
adsunt carmina haec quae vetustatem redolent, in frontispicio chori, ubi inest pictura haec
quomodo Jesum Dominum Judsi crucifixerint, cum mysteriis omnibus et in parte ima
utrinque effigies picta tum Augusti huius, quas optime marmore^e respondet, turn uxoris
cernitur."
" Lustra novem decies bis centum et quinque peracta
Algentisque dies Jani jam sexta rigebat
Post Christ! natale Dei, cum clara propago
Becharia Augustus superas migravit ad arces.
Insignis miles templo hoc sua ossa recondi
Jussit dumque piis quam maxima praedia linquit.
Hunc tibi dextra refert, uxorem laeva potentem
Signal imago suam, qua nunc opus et monumentum
Hoc, auctore vides, nomen si forte requiras
Et genus egregium dicam Zacharina Lonata."
' The actual contract is not in existence, but these facts are referred to in documents
Nos. 27 and 30, and the date of the contract is given at the beginning of No. 30.