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

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Chap. V. ST. JEROME, BERGAMO GALLERY 129
sion and fine characterization of the head, as seen in our illustration, are now
practically lost.
Francis within the last
The very inferior head of Christ which has been hung above the St.
few years can have had nothing to do with this altarpiece,
and is certainly not to be included in the category of Foppa's works.
It was only acquired in 1901 from the same dealer who bought the predella
from Count Albani at Bergamo. We regret to see that in the latest catalogue
of the Brera' Count Malaguzzi upholds the authenticity of this panel and
defends its right to be considered a part of the polyptych of S. Maria delle
Grazie. We trust that in the next edition of this otherwise admirable publication
the author will see his way to reverse this judgment and will remove
the picture from a position to which it is clearly not entitled. We have the
strongest reasons for believing that it never formed part of the altarpiece, and
have therefore omitted it from our illustration of this polyptych.
Closely connected with the Bergamo altarpiece are two small pictures,
of which we have no record, but which would seem to have been produced
about this period, the St. Jerome of the Bergamo Gallery and the Madonna
belonging to Dr. Frizzoni at Milan. In the St. Jerome, which appears to
be earlier by some years than the Madonna, we have a very impressive
conception. The penitent kneels under the shadow of a great rock before
the Crucified Saviour, who towers above him in the sombre landscape a
lonely and pathetic figure silhouetted against the tranquil sky. Here, again,
as in the Bergamo Crucifixion, the infinite solitude of the surroundings
and the fervent expression of the penitent are very striking, and the quality
of the flesh painting and technical finish in the head of the saint are of
remarkable beauty ;
-
here too we have Foppa's outward characteristics : the
type and modelling of the features and the arrangement of the folds of
the drapery. The hands are in the main similar in form to those of
the St. Vincent in the Brera altarpiece. The left hand with the thumb
bent back as we see it here is a peculiarity often met with in the works of
Foppa and his followers, but in the Bergamo picture it is exaggerated into
a physical defect. For this, Foppa cannot be held responsible ; it is perhaps
due, as the inventory of the Lochis Collection ^
which the picture has sustained.
has pointed out, to the injuries
In the treatment of the background we have again a striking example
of the master's intimate study of nature. This is no fantastic imaginary mass
of rock behind the saint, such as we often see in the landscape backgrounds
of this date, but a remarkably accurate rendering of strata closely observed
and skilfully drawn, and, in the opinion of an expert, geologically correct
'
1908, pp. 182, 183. 2 Cf. also Jacobsen,///r^>. d. K. Pr. Ksmlgii., 1896. ^ No. 66.
K