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

Chap. VII. AN UNFINISHED ALTARPIECE AT GENOA 163
lomeo d' Amico or of others of whom we know nothing, a compromise between
Delia Canonica and his debtor was agreed upon ;
both parties declaring themselves
willing to submit their differences to the arbitration of a mutual friend,
the painter Francesco Ferrari. This took place on April 28, 1489, and on the
same day the two litigants released Bartolomeo d' Amico' from his bail and
from all further responsibility in the matter (Doc. No. 44). Vincenzo would
now therefore have been free to execute the altarpiece mentioned above for
S. Maria di Castello at Genoa, to which allusion is made in Doc. No. 45. In
the chapel of St. Vincent Ferrer, in this church, Brancaleona, widow of
Bernardo Giustiniani,'- had recently dedicated an altar in accordance with the
last wishes of her husband, and Foppa had been commissioned to paint the
ancona with the patron saint in the centre, flanked by the figures of SS. John
Baptist and Andrew ; but the work did not proceed far, and Foppa must have
intimated very decidedly to Brother Domenico da Taggia^ that he did not
intend to finish it, for on July 10, 1489, the latter summoned Giuliano Brenta,
a member of the Guild, and Francesco de' Verzali, a Pavian, who with his
brother Giovanni was considered one of the best painters at Genoa in the
second half of the fifteenth century, to value the painting. Fra Domenico
would scarcely have taken this step had he cherished the slightest hope that
Foppa would complete the work. The valuers pronounced it to be worth no
more than lire 12, from which we may conclude that it was in a very elementary
condition (Doc. No. 45).
On the whole, it seems most likely that Foppa had begun the work and
procuratorem, coram ipso magistratu semper et quoties et eius parte requiretur et de
stando iuri in ordinatione ipsius magistratus usque ad sententiam diffinitivam et eius
plenariam executionem."
(Statutes and decrees of the Commune of Genoa.
That a debtor if under suspicion be detained by the magistrate at the instance of the
creditor.
That the debtor suspected by the creditor be condemned and imprisoned by the
magistrate.
That a debtor be not set at liberty unless he pledge himself to appear in person, and
not by proxy, before the magistrate, whenever summoned to do so, and to submit to the
rulings of the said magistrate until such time as sentence be pronounced and executed
to the full.)
1
For notices of this painter, Bartolomeo d' Amico da Casteliazzo, see Alizeri,
I, 294-302.
2 The Giustiniani family were munificent patrons of this church and had their
burying place in the choir.
^ Domenico Anfossi da Taggia had been Prior of the Monastery of S. Maria di
Castello at Genoa between 1485 and 1487, and continued to take a leading part in the
conduct of affairs up to ii\.go {see Aiti delia Soc. Ltg., etc., 1889, pp. 194, 196).