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

Chap. V. BRERA ALTARPIECE: MADONNA & SAINTS 123
Madonna with her attendant angels.
The type of her head with the massive
pillar-Hke neck, the modelling of the features, the vitality and seriousness
of expression, the drawing of the hand resting upon the book, the impressive
and dignified pose of the whole figure, are all typical of the painter in the
highest degree.^ Foppa's character is deeply imprinted on every part of the
panel, and is strikingly apparent in the correct and beautiful rendering of
the arch above the head of the Madonna which forms the background to the
composition, in the modelling of the angels' heads, and in every detail of form
and gesture. Here, again, in the composition and treatment of the Infant
Saviour and of the angels we find the same intent expression and earnestness
of purpose as in the Noseda picture. Certain charming motives in this altarpiece
also link it in feeling with that youthful work, as, for instance, the very
attractive composition of the Flight into Egypt in the predella, and the poetic
and original presentment of the Infant Saviour in the central panel, who turns
with a spontaneous and winning gesture to strike a chord upon the angel's
lute. Though several decades probably separate the one picture from the
other, there cannot be the slightest doubt, after comparing them carefully,
that both emanate from a common source and are pervaded by the same
spirit. The four angels seem to sum up as it were all that is most characteristic
in Foppa's art when treating such figures ; in them we find innumerable
points of contact with his earlier and his later work—types, forms, and modes
of expression which constantly recur in his own works, and which reappear
in a weakened form in those of his pupils and imitators. This central panel
of the Brera altarpiece may therefore be regarded as the most important point
of departure for the study of Foppa, and the most striking criterion of his
style, as a painter of pictures of this class, which we possess.
Among the eight saints, the well posed and firmly planted figures of
SS. Anthony of Padua and Vincent appear to us to be especially characteristic.
The modelling, type, and expression of the heads, the form and pose
of the hands, are all in Foppa's distinctive manner, and vividly recall similar
types and forms in other undoubtedly genuine works by him. It may be
noted, however, that the hands of many of the saints in this altarpiece are
disproportionately small, a defect which we very frequently meet with in the
works of Foppa. Well posed too, and of considerable vitality in the expression
of the heads, are the St. Jerome and the other four Franciscan saints:
Clara and Bonaventura, Louis of Toulouse and Bernardino of Siena.
Here and there we may be conscious of a certain weakness and timidity of
'
The dignity of conception, the massive character of the head, and other particulars
link this figure again with Jacopo Bellini (see especially Giraudon, No. 745, and the
Madonna of Loverej.