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

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VINCENZO FOPPA
at S. Barnaba, as well as certain female heads in the preaching of the Beato
Rocco Porzi of Pavia, a fresco on the left wall of the library and at right
angles to the "Christ in Glory." The St. John the Evangelist on the
ceiling at Bagolino, with his right hand uplifted, recalls in pose and gesture
the figure in a brocaded robe seated to the left of St. Augustine, in the
fresco over the entrance door at S. Barnaba, the raised hand with its broad
palm, short, thick fingers, and awkward pose being very similar in both.
The St. Matthew at Bagolino, represented as an old man, resembles the
white-bearded Pope seated next to this figure above the entrance door at
S. Barnaba; and the clumsy left hand of St. Matthew, with broad metacarpus,
resting on the knee and the right hand holding the pen are almost identical
with the hands of the Pope in the fresco at Brescia.' The frieze and other
decorative work at S. Barnaba is remarkable for beauty of design and
harmony of colour, and is certainly far in advance of the decorative work
in Giov. Pietro's other known paintings, with the exception of what is
perhaps the latest example of his work, the decoration of a chapel in
the old
parish church of S. Lorenzo at Berzo inferiore (Val Camonica).^ But in
all other particulars the points of connection between the works of Giov.
Pietro da Cemmo and the frescoes of S. Barnaba are so obvious that there
is no need to insist further upon them. Like Ambrogio Griffi, the Augustinians
of S. Barnaba, after probably waiting for some time in the vain
hope of obtaining the services of Foppa, were forced to content themselves
with the facile brush but mediocre talent of the painter of Val Camonica.
To give Giov. Pietro his due, we must, however, observe that, in spite of
his deficiencies in the drawing and pose of his figures, we have evidence
in several heads on the entrance wall of S. Barnaba that he must have been
a portrait painter of some ability, and we think it extremely probable that
portraits by him may be in existence, though their author has remained
unrecognized.'
Foppa, having made all
arrangements for his petition to be brought before
1 Here, as well as in Giov. Pietro's series at Bagolino, in his frescoes in the
Annunziata di Borno, at Esine, and in other places, we find numerous vwtives
borrowed from the Eremitani Chapel at Padua ; in the Annunziata there are also many
links with the Portinari Chapel.
- Decorative work of this description was often paid by the palmo (a span — nine
inches), and the utmost care and finish was required of the painter. The Pavian master
Francesco Verzali was paid as much as one florin (twenty-five Genoese soldi) per
span for the frieze executed by him in a private house at Genoa—a very high price.
Other painters we find were paid at the rate of nine soldi per span for work of this kind
(see Alizeri, II, 350-54)-
' Were these portrait heads reproduced independently of the main composition
we have little doubt that they would be ascribed to some painter of established fame.