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

I40
VINCENZO FOPPA
since he left the parish of S.
Gregorio,' and for which he paid an annual rent
of 20 florins. The owner of the house was Giovanni Antonio de Martis
of Varese, a citizen of Pavia, who on June 20, 1474, had received 50 gold
ducats as a deposit from Vincenzo, which he promised to return within six
years (Doc. No. 22). This sum, which at first sight appears to be a loan repayable
in six years, was in reality the security for six years' rent of a house
which Giov. Antonio da Varese on this same day (June 20, 1474) had let to
Master Vincenzo Foppa, whose lease in the parish of S. Gregorio had expired
in this year (1474). The new house was near Porta Palazzo in the parish of
S. Invenzio, and according to the contract Foppa was allowed to make any
necessary alterations and improvements short of erecting new buildings,
Giov. Antonio binding himself to defray the cost after valuation by two mutual
friends.
On these terms Foppa took the house for six years, paying down 50 ducats
(or 66 florins, as mentioned at the end of the document) at once, and promising
to pay the balance of the amount of the rent in six yearly payments of 9
florins.^
The exact situation of the painter's new house cannot be determined, but
we know that it was very near the church and precincts of S. Invenzio, and
would therefore coincide in a general way with one of the houses on the right
in the present Largo di Via Severino Boezio, the street running from Piazza
Petrarca towards the Church of S. Gervasio. This house Foppa now desired
to purchase, and on May 24, 1483, we find him borrowing 200 florins from
Girolamo Beccaria (probably a relation of Donna Zaccarina), and though the
reason of this loan does not appear in the present document (No. 35), it is
evident from the next record of February ig, 1484 (No. 36), that Vincenzo
borrowed the money in order to purchase Giov. Antonio da Varese's house in
the parish of S. Invenzio ; Vincenzo repaid half of the sum on this day,
^ Chap. Ill, p. 77.
^ Two other documents of the Appendix have reference to these transactions relating
to the house rented by Foppa in the parish of S. Invenzio. On August 6, 1474 (Doc.
25), Giov. Antonio acknowledges the receipt of 25 gold ducats from Foppa, a sum
which, from the wording of the deed, we might infer to have been of the nature of a
temporary deposit. This, however, is not the case ; the sum represents a prepayment of
rent by Foppa in order to avoid having to make the payment of 9 florins every year.
Thus the provident master, who according to his agreement was to pay 120 florins as
rent for the whole six years, is found to have already paid in the first year 99 florins or
75 ducats. There still remained therefore to be paid by him, to make up the whole of
the rent, a sum approaching 20 florins (taking into consideration the fluctuating value
of money at the time) ; when therefore in the second document just alluded to, of June
8, 1478 (No. 32), we find the painter paying again 18 florins, we may conclude that this
sum represents his final settlement with De Martis for the rent of his house.