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

Chap. VII. DISPUTE WITH BARTOLOMEO CAYLINA 171
artist, who in this case would have been Caylina, and perhaps executed the
paintings himself.^ Then we have the interesting clause which states that
Bartolomeo may pay his debt to Foppa by placing his services as a painter at
the disposal of Vincenzo and by working for that master. This important
item is certainly not to be overlooked, for it is the documentary proof of what
is evident in some of the master's own works, namely, of the collaboration with
him of pupils or assistants of his bottega. Often, as we have seen, the
principal parts only are to be ascribed to himself, while in less important
details, the accessories, the predella, etc., the execution was more usually
entrusted to assistants, one of whom was certainly his brother-in-law
Bartolomeo Caylina.
We might infer from a deed of April 14, 1490 (Doc. No. 53), that Foppa
was at Pavia at that date. It was drawn up in Bertolino della Canonica's
workshop in Genoa, by a notary of that city, and empowers Agostino, the
brother of Bertolino and his representative, to remove from the custody
work, we only learn that at that date it was not completed. The document under
discussion of 1489 does not specify the year when the commission for the " cross of the
monastery of the Carmine" was given, but it may have been some years previously
to 1489. It seems on the whole therefore very probable that the crosses mentioned in
the records of 1481 and 1489 were identical, and that the carver who collaborated here
with Foppa and Caylina was Cristoforo Rocchi.
1
We have numerous references to such crosses in Italian Archives ; for instance,
from an unpublished document of the Archivio Notarile at Milan, dated August 8,
1465, we learn that the Confraternity of the Crucified at Gallarate commissioned from
the carver Beltramo Gallazzi, son of the late Ambrogio, living at Milan at Porta
Orientale in the parish of S. Giorgio al Pozzo Bianco, a large cross with the figure of
the Crucified and four other figures in low relief in the upper portion, namely, the
Eternal Father, St. John the Evangelist, the Virgin and Mary Magdalen, and with a
skull at the foot of the cross. The work was paid for in two instalments, the first
on October 17, the second on December 21 of the same year, 1465 (Arch. Not. Milan ;
Atti di Gervaso Bozzolani).
A cross of this description decorated with paintings and carvings is referred to in a
document of January 16, 1496 (Arch. Not. di Pavia ;
Atti di Stefano Roverini). It was
commissioned for the Church of Castel S. Giovanni, and was the work of two carvers,
Giacomo Maino and his son Giov. Angelo, who is well known by existing works in the
present day. The cross was t\ braccia in length and 5i across the arms and was
adorned with four carved and painted medallions in which were represented the Pelican
feeding her young, the Madonna, St. John the Evangelist, and St.
Peter Martyr, with a
life-size figure of the Crucified Saviour. The ground was to be painted in fine azure
and the glories in gold, and the whole was to have a border of fine geld an inch in
width with a small gold cross in the centre of the back. This work therefore passed
through the hands of carver, painter, and decorative artist, and we may assume that
the cross executed by Foppa and Bartolomeo Caylina was very similar in character.