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

CHAPTER VII
I 489- I 490
Foppa in Liguria ; altarpiece for Manfredo Fornari at Savona— Foppa's dispute with
Bertoiino della Canonica— His arrest and liberation— Leaves the aUarpiece in
S. Maria di Castello, Genoa, unfinished— Probable return to Brescia in the late
spring of 1489
; fresco in the Loggetta there— His petition to be allowed to open a
school at Brescia—The authorities at Brescia urged by the Duke of Milan to
force Vincenzo to fulfil his engagement with Griffi—The Library of S. Barnaba,
Brescia—Frescoes there by Giovanni Pietro da Cemmo—Other works by this painter
at Bagolino and in the Val Camonica— Foppa's return to Pavia—Ordered to finish
the altarpiece at Savona— His dispute with his brother-in-law Bartolomeo Caylina
—Foppa's return to Savona in November, 1489, to make arrangements for completing
the altarpiece— Is again at Pavia in the beginning of December— Judgment
delivered in the dispute between Foppa and Caylina—The Cross for the Carmine
at Pavia— Foppa called upon to restore certain goods which he had in his care to
Bertoiino della Canonica's representative at Pavia— Foppa at Savona completing
the altarpiece for the cathedral—The donor of this picture— Discussion of the work.
In April of the year 1489 Foppa completed a picture for another member
of a great Genoese family, Manfredo Fornari, for his chapel (the second
on the left) in the Certosa of S. Maria di Loreto above Savona.' The
Certosa was founded between 1480 and 1481 by a certain Stefano Embrone
who, having been miraculously cured of serious illness, vowed to build a
church to the Madonna and St.
Bernardino."
^ For S. M. di Loreto see : Verzellino, Memorie . . di Savona, 259 ; Accinelli,
Ligxiria Sacra, I, 495 ; Miscellanea di Storie Liguri, 140 ; Oggiero Belgrano, op. cit., 175,
etc. The name Loreto has nothing to do with the Santa Casa, as might be inferred,
but is probably derived from a medieval castle which once stood on the site given by
the founder of the Certosa, and which is spoken of in documents of the thirteenth
century as Castrum Loretum. Two twelfth century windows may be seen on the
west side of the monastic buildings, and it is probable that some of the old walls
were utilized in the construction of the new building. The castle of Loreto mentioned
in these documents has been thought by some writers to refer to another building of
the same name near Acqui in Piedmont ; but as these records all relate to places in the
neighbourhood of Savona, Comm. Vittorio Poggi is probably right in his surmise that
it was above the city of Savona.
* A wretched seventeenth century painting, the healing of a paralytic, which still
exists over the door, is supposed to represent the miracle wrought by the Madonna for
Stefano Embrone (see Picconi, Deir Apparizione, p. 26 and foil.).
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