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

Chap. VI. FOPPA'S CONTRACT WITH AMBROGIO GRIFFI 153
In 1487 Ambrogio GriflFi, the Ducal Councillor, Prothonotary Apostolic,
and Court Physician of the Sforza, entered into negotiations with Foppa
respecting the pictorial decoration of the chapel which he had recently dedicated
to his patron saint in the Church of S. Pietro in Gessate at Milan ; but
even so powerful a patron as Griffi,^ who was one of the most distinguished
among the brilliant throng surrounding the Milanese Court in the last thirty
years of the fifteenth century, was unable to obtain his services, though for
the space of two years he seems to have repeatedly urged the painter to fulfil
his engagement. That it was of the nature of an engagement is clear from a
Ducal missive of 1489 (Doc. No. 46), which speaks of Griffi as "having
agreed with Vincenzo the painter in the presence of witnesses." This letter
emphasizes the importance of Foppa and the great reputation he still continued
to enjoy at Milan; at a time, moreover, when the presence of Leonardo
da Vinci was making itself felt there, and his influence was already beginning
to turn the course of local art into very different channels. But the new art
had evidently no attractions for Griffi ; and for two years he waited, hoping to
secure the services of Foppa. We shall deal with this document later when
speaking of the painter's return to Brescia.
The letter of the Duke dated September 27 speaks of the contract as
having been made "two years ago," and we may assume that in the autumn
of 1487 Vincenzo was still in Lombardy; but very shortly after entering into
the agreement with Griffi he must have returned to Liguria,- and for nearly
two years we have evidence, direct and indirect, of his presence there.
On September 15, 1488 (Doc. 41), Bertolino della Canonica received from
Marco Grimaldi, Treasurer of the Confraternity of S. Sebastiano, the sum of
fifteen lire for Vincenzo de Fopa, who was to furnish four figures in carved
wood in relief for the altar of St. Sebastian belonging to that Confraternity in
the cathedral at Genoa. ^ The work was to be finished by the end of October,
but in the event of Vincenzo not completing it in the given time, Bertolino
'
Ambrogio Griffi by his will of September 4, 1489, bequeathed money for the
endowment of a college for eight young students at Pavia ; hence he Is commemorated
in one of the mural tablets in the Famedio (cemetery) of that city. The Griffi came
originally from Varese, and one of the family was the well-known notary Albertolo
GriHi da Varese. All the most ancient records relating to the University of Pavia in the
second half of the fourteenth century are preserved among the deeds of this notary in
the University Library at Pavia.
- On November 10, 1487, we might infer that he was not at Pavia, for his annual
due to the Hospital of S. Invenzio for his house was on that day paid in his name by his
son Evangelista (see App. II B, No. 4).
^ For the Confraternity of St. Sebastian see Aliz., II, 91, and Guida, pp. 9
and 120.