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

196 VINCENZO FOPPA
tell, but we know that c. 1776 Albuzzio, the Milanese writer, saw a picture by
Foppa hanging over the altar of this chapel, and he refers to it in the
following terms "
: By Vincenzo Foppa we have another very beautiful work
in S. Pietro in Gessate, the altarpiece of the first chapel on the left on
entering the church. The subject is the dead Christ in the lap of His mother,
with the aged Nicodemus, St. John, the Magdalen, and other Maries, almost
life-size. In the background is seen the city of Jerusalem, Calvary, and
a rugged rock with a cave opening, and several figures on horseback.
In this work also the emotions are admirably expressed. The colour is fine
and well preserved ;
only the extremities have suffered somewhat. The hem
or borders of the draperies are composed of letters interlaced after the
manner of embroidery, and here may be clearly deciphered the name of the
painter: " Vincentius de Phop pinxit," which therefore contradicts what was
said by Torre, Latuada, and Sormanni,^ who all speak of this panel as the
work of Bramante."^
The complete agreement between the picture here so accurately described
by Albuzzio and the panel in the Berlin Gallery, added to the fact
that the peculiar form of signature "Vincentius de Phop" is easily decipherable
on the hem of the garment of Nicodemus' in the last-named
1
Torre ascribes the picture to Bramante in his Ritratto di Milano, ed. 1674, p. 319,
but neither Latuada nor Sormanni mentions it.
- " Di Vincenzo Foppa abbiamo un' altra bellissima opera a S. Pietro in Gessate la
quale si incontra medesimamente nella prima capella entrando, a lato sinistro e serve
d' ancona all' altare. II soggetto e un Signore morto, steso in grembo alia madre, con
accanto il vecchio Nicodemo, S. Giovanni e la Maddalena, con altre Marie quasi al
naturale. Nell' indietro scorgesi la cittadi Gerusalemme, il Calvario, ed una scoscesa
rupe traforata, con alquante figure a cavallo. Anche in quest' opera mirabilmente
campeggia la espressione degli affetti ; il colorito e bello e ben conservato. Le sole
estremita hanno alquanto sofferto. I lembi, o vogliam dire, i contorni degli abiti non
sono che un tessuto di caratteri a guisa di ricami, e vi si vede manifestamente iscritto il
nome del pittore : Vincentius de Phop pinxit, con che si smentisce le parole del Torre,
del Latuada e del Sormanni, i quali spacciano questa tavola per opera del Bramante "
(Albuzzio, MS. in the library of the Marchese Soragna, Milan, Vol. I, f.
54, 55).
^ The existence of this signature was unknown until the summer of 1901 when,
upon the photograph of the picture being closely scrutinized, the inscription was discovered
by Senatore Beltrami and one of the present writers. Calvi's reference to the
Pieta mentioned by Albuzzio had always suggested to us the possibility of its being