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

228 VINCENZO FOPPA
Master Vincenzo, i.e. 1. 2 s. 5, on September 12, 1513/ and the remaining 1. 2
on October 13 ; the embroiderer's workshop having apparently been let to
Foppa, who seems to have taken it on a repairing lease. The next item,
No. 10, is of great interest, for it states (f. 3) that on March 4, 15 14, a certain
sum was paid by "his [Vincenzo's] nephew M Paulo" to the massaro Ludovico
Zerbini, while from f. 163 v. we learn that the sum was from "Master
Vincenzo the painter," and we are referred to f, 3. This little sentence on f. 3,
which without the double entry in the account-book and without due understanding
of the context on this page would convey nothing to the casual reader, is of
the greatest importance, as being the final link in the chain of evidence which
indubitably proves the identity of this Vincenzo with the painter of 1495 and
earlier ; for "Paulo his nephew" is the same as "Paulus de Caylina, " mentioned
in the note at the foot of f. 2 v. (Doc. No. 72), to whom we have constantly had
occasion to refer in these pages and whom we can trace as Foppa's heir and
successor in rent-books, account-books, and Estimi up to 1545 and later. In
the Estimo of 1517 and in his own Polizza d' Estimo of the same year (Docs.
Nos. 77 and 78) he is entered as the son of Bartolomeo.^ This entry is
separated from the preceding one, as we see on referring to the illustration, by
a dash, marking as it were the close of a chapter or paragraph, which, so far
as Vincenzo is concerned, is actually the case ; for his name never occurs again
on f. 3, and instead it is always M" Paulo who either makes the payments in
person or sends them by a neighbour. This apparent closing of Foppa's
account and the substitution of M" Paulo's name for that of M'° Vincenzo on
f. 3 might lead to the conclusion that Foppa must have died after October,
1513; in point of fact however it has no reference to Foppa, but merely marks
the advent of a new massaro whose tenure of office was one of unusual length,
having extended from 1514 to 1520. The entries in the account-book exclude
the possibility of Vincenzo's death having occurred in 15 13, for we could
scarcely infer from the mention of him in Items 10 to 15 that he was then no
longer living ;
and further, we have the allusion to him in the Pavian Archives
1 It may here be mentioned that in one of Albuzzio's MSS. in the library of the
Marchese Soragna at Milan is the following note :
" It is said that there is at Milan a
panel picture in the old style, with the name Vincenzo Foppa and the date, if I am not
mistaken, of 1513."
(" Unatavola di maniera antica col nome di Vincenzo Foppa e colla
data, se non erro, di 1513.") Unfortunately Albuzzio's annotator gives us no clue as to
the subject treated, nor does he state whether the picture was in a church or in a private
collection. We have no further information relating to this picture, which was ostensibly
of the year 1513, and it is not mentioned in the copy of Albuzzio's MS. belonging to
Dr. Gerolamo Calvi at Milan. For the Vincenzo da Brescia who in November, 1513,
was paid for work executed at Milan, see App. I, Note 5.
- He was the son therefore of Bartolomeo Caylina and Margarita Moracavalli of
Favia, and was Foppa's nephew by marriage.