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

194 VINCENZO FOPPA
io6 lire, referred to in the second part of Doc. 70, is not the original contract
between Alasia and Foppa, but is merely an admission on the part of the
Canon of his debt to Vincenzo for these paintings, which had already been
executed by the master, and a promise of payment for the same in order to
free the panels from the restrictions laid upon them by the Vicar-General at
Foppa's request, to which allusion has already been made on pp. 192, 193.
Finally, from this series of documents we gain many important details
relating to what may be termed the genesis of the altarpiece and to the
methods usually adopted in the production of such works. The painter,
guided by the instructions of the donors, prepared a sketch from which a
more careful drawing was then made and sent to the carver. This was to
serve as his model in constructing the altarpiece and enable him to set the
carvings in due relation to the paintings,
thereby securing the harmony of the
whole. The woodwork when ready was valued by an expert, time being
allowed for any flaw in the wood or defect in the workmanship to be detected;
should any such flaw or defect become apparent, the carver undertook to
repair it at his own expense. The diff"erent parts were then passed on to the
decorative artist for gilding and ornamentation in colour, while the panels for
the principal figures were consigned to the master painter ; the background
of these figures, however, being gold, was again the work of the decorator,
who in some cases was also employed to gild the nimbus and the borders of
the draperies.
The text of the agreement between the Chapter of S. Maria Gualtieri and
the painter Giov. Siro Cattaneo, with all its particulars and minute details,
enables us to reconstruct the altarpiece in part at least. Four columns divided
the main portion into three spaces, each space having two compartments, an
upper and a lower. These six compartments were destined for the large
figures painted by Foppa relieved upon a background of fine gold. Above
the columns was an architrave enriched with a frieze, the centre of which
would certainly have contained a small representation of the Almighty, the
Pieta, the Annunciation, or some kindred subject. The upper part of the frame
was decorated with scroll-work or volutes in relief, the fluted parts of which
were to be painted in fine azure (". . . le canale delle origelle . . . metterle
de azuro fine." Item 3). Four pinnacles surmounted the whole on which
stood four carved figures of angels, gilded throughout with the exception of
the flesh-tones, which were to be painted (Item 2). The framework of the
six painted panels was ornamented with a design in relief of candelabra and
arabesques ;
the whole was to be gilded and decorated with enamel colours of
such tints as would seem most suitable (Item i), and the frames of the predella
were also to be gilded with fine gold (Item 5).
Such was the aspect of the altarpiece of S. Maria Gualtieri. As, how-