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

'•"
The
Chap. VI. ST. SEBASTIAN, CASTELLO MUSEUM 147
by Albuzzio ;' it was painted, as already noted, on the wall at the side of the
altar, its pendant on the other side being St. Roch ; on the ceiling was represented
a glory of angels with foreshortened figures
which were greatly praised
by Lomazzo. Both these last-named compositions are now missing. The
St. Roch, which was still in existence in the time of Bianconi, who ascribes it
to Luini,'- was then in a very bad state of preservation, and after being
transferred to canvas disappeared. According to Latuada,^ the whole chapel
was decorated by Foppa.''
The picture now in the Castello Museum came from the Church of
S. Sebastiano, though not originally painted for that building, which dates only
from 1577, and was erected as a thank-offering for the cessation of the plague
of 1576 at the instance of S. Carlo Borromeo. Presumably the picture was
painted for the earlier church dedicated to SS. Sebastian and Tranquillino.^
Torre saw the altarpiece of St. Sebastian hanging over an altar in a chapel on
the left, and ascribed it to Bramante;^ Latuada, who attributed it to Bramantino,
speaks of the richly carved and gilded frame which has long since
disappeared," and many succeeding writers, including Crowe and Cavalcaselle,
attribute it to Bramante or Bramantino ;
Mongeri^ pronounced it to be
a work of the early Milanese school, probably of Bramantino's first period ;
but Caffi" was, we believe, the first to ascribe it definitely to Foppa ;
his
suggestion was, however, not adopted, and until 1898 it hung in the church,
where it was very imperfectly seen, under the name of Bramante, and it was
only when it was removed to the Castello Museum, principally on the
initiative of the late Signer Vittadini, that the latter distinguished connoisseur
1
Albuzzio says: "In the first chapel on the left were represented SS. Roch and
Sebastian painted in fresco in the two spaces flanking the altar" (MS. in the possession
of Dr. Gerolamo Calvi, of Milan, who kindly permitted us to consult it).
2 p. 392.
3 V, 265.
^ It is scarcely necessary to observe that there is no justification for Cafii's theory
that this St. Sebastian was by Zenale. It was based solely on the fact, that he had
discovered in the Archives of S. Maria di Brera an entry of 1518, recording an old debt
of 37 lire still owing at that date to " M"'". Bernardo da Treviglio " (see Arch. Star.
Lomb., 1878, p. 102). There is no reason for connecting this Bernardo, who is not even
spoken of as a painter, with Zenale, nor for assuming that this debt referred to the
fresco of the Chapel of St. Sebastian, and moreover there is not the slightest ground for
doubting the traditional attribution to Vincenzo Foppa, which is confirmed by the
character and aspect of the whole composition.
Church of S. Tranquillino was a very ancient foundation, and contained
relics of St. Sebastian and a miraculous image which had been venerated in the church
since the year 1381 and was removed to the new building.
« Op.ciL, p. 145.
' III, 123.
* Arte in Milano, 282.
''
Arte in Italia, p. 77, 1S72.