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

176 VINCENZO FOPPA
favourite decorative motive which was constantly repeated by painters of the
school of Foppa. The ptitti seated above the wooden throne and making
music with pipe and bagpipe, are in closest relation with the methods of
sculpture and recall similar types met with, both in paintings and sculptures,
in North Italy.' The colour of this central panel must originally have been
magnificent, for even now if a ray of sunshine chance to fall upon the red and
golden
brocade suspended at the back of the throne and covering the step in
front or on the deep scarlet of the Cardinal's robe, the effect is one of extraordinary
richness and brilliancy, and the dead and blackened panel seems for a
moment to glow with living fire.
The kneeling donor is the only adequate example of a portrait by Vincenzo
Foppa known. From this point of view it is of unique interest demonstrating
the master's skill in this branch of art." Foppa may have seen Giuliano della
Rovere, who paid occasional visits to Genoa and Savona during the years when
the painter was in Liguria, and may have sketched his features, but we cannot
tell whether the Cardinal ever sat to him ; the fine characterization of the
head in this panel and the vitality and earnestness of the expression might well
point to its having been a portrait from life. The only portraits of Giuliano of
this date which could be of any service in verifying the likeness are the two
well-known medals— by Sperandio of about 1483-84 (a specimen is in the
British Museum)^ and by Giov. Candida of about 1494, reproduced by
Fabricsy.^ The similarity in type and expression between these two medals is
not striking, neither is their resemblance to the painted portrait altogether
convincing ; nevertheless, taken in conjunction with the inscription, with
the arms of Giuliano introduced in the predella, and with the undeniable
fact that he was the donor of the picture, there can be no doubt that
^
Dr. Carotti, op. cit., draws attention to the connection with the school of Padua
seen in these />»//^ Compare also a Madonna, ascribed to Mantegna, in the Berlin
Gallery, which Morelli (III, pp. 73,
74)
attributed to Bartolomeo Vivarini.
-
The portrait of Manfredo Fornari, (pp. 161-62), cannot be taken as any criterion
of his skill in portraiture. Some examples have indeed been ascribed to him, but
on insufficient grounds ; for instance, the portrait of an unknown man in the Morrison
Collection, and the admirable little likeness of Francesco Brivio da Melegnano in the
Poldi Museum at Milan, which Morelli attributed to Ambrogio de Predis, the name of
Foppa having been bestowed upon it by the late Professor Bertini ;
our illustration may
help to identify others, as yet unrecognized.
^ See Guide to Italian Medals, etc., p. 6, No. 16. Cf. also Gruyer, Raphael Peintre
de Portraits, I, 220-88. For Giul. see among others : Pescetto, Annali; Verz, op. cit.;
Brosch, Jul. II.; M071. per la vita, di G. etc.
^ Medaillen, etc., p. 81, Fig. 143, and Engl, ed., PI. 33, 7. See also Armand, II,
p. 109, No. 2, and Tresor de Niimismatique, I, xiii, 3; Supino, No. 704, p. 215; Rev.
Numis., 1895, p. 420; Carotti, op. cit., p. 10, etc.