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

;
Chap. VII. ALTARPIECE, SAVONA 179
Savona should be strengthened and a citadel erected, and to that end it
was decided to sacrifice a considerable portion of the city. In this scheme
of ruthless and wholesale destruction the cathedral, which it had been the
pride of Bishop Gara, of Pope Julius II, and of other munificent benefactors
to enrich, was included. In vain the people of Savona appealed to the
Signoria and sent envoys to plead the cause of their beloved Duomo ;
the edict had gone forth, and the cathedral, the shrine of so many priceless
treasures of painting, sculpture, intarsia, and carving, was doomed to immediate
destruction. In April, 1542, it was entirely dismantled, and no one
was permitted to enter the building, which was strictly guarded.^ Eventually
some of its treasures, including the magnificent choir-stalls, the gift of
Giuliano, and the work of Anselmo de' Fornari and his assistants Gian
Michele de' Pantaleoni and Elia de' Rocchi,^ were placed in the new
cathedral ;
but the altarpiece was never reinstated, and for fifty years or more
after its removal was never heard of. The first mention of it occurs in the
year 1600, in the registers of the Confraternity of S. Maria di Castello.
From these registers we learn that some years after the destruction of the
cathedral the altarpiece was temporarily deposited in the oratory belonging
to the confraternity, which in the year 1600 became its permanent home.
The Chapter of the cathedral apparently deemed it unworthy of a place
in the new building, and with the sanction of the ecclesiastical authorities
it was disposed of to the Prior and Sub-Prior of the confraternity for the
sum of five hundred lire ; the money was paid by instalments, the last payment
being of April, 1603. The accurate description given in the registers
of the subjects treated in the ancona, and of its former position in the
cathedral, leave no doubt as to its identity with the work we have been
discussing, although no painter's name is mentioned in connection with it.'
Subsequently Foppa's share in the work was entirely forgotten. It received
occasional notice from seventeenth and eighteenth century writers; Soprani Sn
1674 praises the work of Brea, but knows nothing of any other painter ; and
^
De Monti, Compe}idio,eic., p. 183; Aimali, loc. cit. ; Abate, Jl/emorie . . di Savona.
2 The two first named were natives of Castelnuovo di Scrivia, near Tortona
Elia was a brother of Cristoforo de' Rocchi, of Pavia, to whom we alluded when speaking
of the cross of the Carmine, p. 170, note i. See V. Poggi, La Strcnna Savonese,
1895, p. 19, and // Coro Moninnentale della Cattcdrale di Savona e gli arlisti Tortonesi che
lo esegtiirono (in Bollettino della Soc. per gli Stiidi . . d'Arie nel Tortonese, III, 1904).
^ These registers are preserved in S. Maria di Castello, and are contained in the
volume entitled Libro dell' Amministrazione, No. 22. Through the kindness of the
former Prior, the late Professor Niccolo Corrado, we were permitted to consult these
entries ; the chief passages bearing upon the history of the altarpiece have been
published by Dr. Carotti, op. cit., pp. 6-8.
* Soprani, Le Vite de' Pittori . . in Genova, p. 13.