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

Chap. VIII. OFFICIAL PAINTER TO BRESCIAN COMMUNE 183
absence of so many years from his old home, to return to Brescia and settle
there for the remainder of his life, being weary of continual peregrinations to
different cities and dissatisfied with the uncertainty of employment there.
His financial conditions, however, were not such as to render him free from
all anxiety in the future. He therefore hoped to obtain from the Brescian
Government an annual stipend of fifty ducats, which, added to his own small
income, would enable him to live in comparative ease. He offered on his
part to open a school at Brescia, where the youth of the city might be
instructed in painting and architecture, and to adorn the public buildings of
the city with paintings.
This petition, presented by the two Brescian magnates, was favourably
received by the Council, who had a high opinion of Foppa as an artist who
had gained such fame by his works in many cities, and "last of all in our new
Loggetta." It was therefore decided, subject to the approval of the General
Council (which would not have been likely to reject the motion), to grant the
painter a yearly allowance of 100 lire planet, on condition that he settled at
Brescia and exercised his art there ; the continuance of the stipend, however,
it was distinctly stated, was to depend on the good pleasure of the Community.
Measures passed at the Special Council did not, however, come into force
until they had been approved and confirmed by the General Council ; the
latter held its sittings as a rule four times in the month, the Special Council
four to six times, according to the amount of business to be transacted. In
the case of Foppa eight months, however, elapsed before the decision of the
Special Council was confirmed, a delay doubtless caused by the fact that
until Vincenzo had fulfilled his engagement with Giuliano della Rovere, and
had finished the altarpiece for the Cathedral of Savonato the satisfaction of his
employers, no permanent post could be given to him at Brescia. But immediately
on the completion of that work, that is after August 5, 1490, he must
have reported himself to the authorities at Brescia, and at the meeting of the
General Council on the 24th of that month, the decision of December 18, 1489,
was ratified and the motion carried by sixty-six votes to nineteen, " Master
Vincenzo Brixiano the excellent painter" being granted a salary of 100 lire
planet,' "he himself living in the city of Brescia and exercising there the art
of painting, which salary is to continue subject to the good pleasure of the
Community" (Doc. No. 55). From Elia Capriolo's history of Brescia we
'
According to Capilupl {Stor. MS. della Quadra di S. Alessandro di Brescia, f.
43),
I lira planet was equal to 13 lire in the present day; Foppa's salary would consequently
have amounted to 1300 lire. Valentini, Statuti di Brescia, etc., p. 26, states that the
lira was called "planet" to distinguish it from two other Brescian coins, lira vecchia
and nuova imperiale. See also Doneda, Notizie della Zecca di Brescia, etc., p. 60
and foil.