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

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Chap. VI. FRESCO OF 1485, BRERA 141
February 19, Girolamo Beccaria granting- him an extension of time till
January,
1485, for the repayment of the remainder, and binding himself not to
molest Vincenzo nor to impound the house purchased by him, in order to have
the money before that date. Although the deed relating to the purchase of
this house (referred to in Doc. No. 36 and drawn up, as there stated, by the
Pavian notary Santino Valdemagna) is no longer in existence, we may
assume from the evidence of the documents just mentioned (Nos. 35 and 36)
that Foppa bought the house between May, 1483, and the following February.
But Giovanni Antonio, though to all intents and purposes the possessor
of the house which he sold to Foppa, had not absolute rights over it, but
held it from the administrators of the Hospital of S. Invenzio as the owners
in fee ; he consequently paid a small annual sum to them in recognition
of their title. When Foppa bought the house the payment of this nominal
sum, called in Italian "livello," devolved upon him, and was paid with
great regularity by himself or his representative, as we shall see later.' It
is clear from these documents that our painter was again at Pavia in 1483.
We have no actual proof of his presence there between the years 1479 and
1483 ; but, as already stated, the dispute with Bartolomeo Caylina appears
to have come to a climax in 1481, and we think it probable that by this
date Foppa must have returned to his home from Liguria. It seems therefore
reasonable to assume that the Spinola altarpiece at Genoa was completed
by this time, and that in these years he was actively employed both
in settling his own private affairs and in artistic work at Pavia and Milan.
Between 1482 and i486 it is to be assumed that he was executing frescoes
at Milan, and of this series we have one dated work which gives us some clue
to his style at that time, the fresco in the Brera of October, 1485, representing
the Madonna and Child beneath an arch adorned with medallion heads
in grisaille^that favourite motive of painters and sculptors at this period
and on either side two kneeling saints, St. John Baptist and St. John the
Evangelist.
It is not mentioned as the work of Foppa by any early writers, but the
attribution, which was first put forward we believe by Crowe and Cavalcasclle,^
is certainly justified, so far at least as the Madonna and Child are
concerned, whose types and forms are strikingly characteristic of the Brescian
master. The arch framing the central composition with its slabs of porphyry
and serpentine, vividly recalls the scheme of the medallions with the Fathers
^
This payment appears to be of the nature of a fee farm rent, but for convenience
sake we shall use the Italian " livello" when referring to this payment. Foppa had the
beneficial ownership of the house, the "dominio utile" ; the hospital, as owner of the
fee, the "dominio alto, or diretto."
2 II, 8.