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

Chap. VIII. FOPPA PAYS HIS "LIVELLO" AT PAVIA 187
It is evident that he had now timed his leave of absence so as to be at
Pavia to pay the sum in person on the day when it fell due.
This fact is not without
importance, for though we have no allusion in Pavian documents of this
year (1491) to the lawsuit spoken of in the Deliberations of the Brescian
Council of August 30, from records of subsequent years we are inclined to
think that it actually had reference to this house in S. Invenzio. Foppa by
coming himself to Pavia probably settled the dispute satisfactorily for the
time being, but in later years the question came up again, and we find it
raised in November, 1497 and 1498, by Francesco de Betiis on behalf of the
hospital, while Vincenzo's neighbour Cristoforo Gazzaniga enters a protest
on behalf of his absent friend (Doc. No. 67).
The cause of this dispute we cannot explain, but it is probable that
differences had arisen in consequence of the painter having let the house,
when he left Pavia for Brescia, without first applying to the administrators
of the hospital for permission. Foppa doubtless believed himself at
liberty to act independently, but the administrators considering that their
rights as owners of the fee had been infringed and that they would therefore
be justified in repudiating their agreement with the painter, would no doubt
have endeavoured by every means in their power to prove that Foppa had
forfeited his tenure as a leaseholder in perpetuity. This we believe to be
the reason why the receipt for the annual payments of the " livello " contains an
explicit allusion to the rights of the hospital as opposed to those of Foppa.
Brescian documents are silent about Foppa for the next six months or so,
and on June 20, 1492, we find him once more at Pavia (Doc. No. 60). On
that day in the presence of the Consuls of the Merchants' Guild, whose office
was in a palace almost opposite to the cathedral, Foppa receives from Pietro
Paolo Guenzati, a merchant of Pavia, the sum of fifty-one lire imp. nine soldi,
a sum owing to the painter, though it is not stated on what account. No
notice of this journey to Pavia is found in the Brescian Archives, that is to
say, we have no formal permission given, as in the Deliberations of August 30,
1491, and we assume therefore that the period of Foppa's absence from the
city being very brief, it was not necessary for him to apply to the authorities
for leave on this occasion.
On November 23, 1492 (Doc. No. 61), we have a short entry among
the minutes of the Special Council of Brescia to the effect that Master
Vincenzo valued paintings executed at Brescia by Pietro Moretto, and
though the master's surname is not given here, we may assume that it refers
to the official painter of the city,
Vincenzo Foppa, and not to Vincenzo Civerchio,
who at this date was also at Brescia, and was painting frescoes in a
chapel in the cathedral.
During these years Foppa must have been fully occupied at
Brescia both