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

Chap. IX. POT.IZZA D'ESTIMO OF PAOLO CAYLINA 231
Thus almost mysteriously Foppa disappears, for the close, like the beginning
of his long life, is shrouded in impenetrable obscurity. As to the first epoch of
his life, extending, roughly speaking, over a period of nearly thirty years, we
are, as has been shown, absolutely in the dark. Then the veil lifts, he becomes
to us a tangible human personality, and for over forty years the history of his life
and the growth of his art may be traced and followed in an almost unbroken
line of development. But after 1502 we have only the briefest allusions to
him, and every effort to penetrate the gloom surrounding his latter years has
been unavailing, both as regards the circumstances of his life and the chronology
of his works. One fact only is certain—that his death did not occur
until the middle of the second decade of the sixteenth century.
In the absence of all records relating to the close of the master's life
even the slightest shred of information is of value, and we would therefore
direct the attention of the reader to Doc. No. 78, the Polizza d' Estimo of
Paolo Caylina, that is the census, or registered statement of the particulars
of his family and property for taxation purposes, a document which at first
sight may appear insignificant and trivial, but the second part of which contains
some important entries relating to the dispositions of Foppa's will. The
paper is undated, but is certainly of 1517, as proved by its position in
the case containing other Polizze of this year in the municipal archives at
Brescia, where we had the good fortune to find it. It bears the heading :
" In the first ward of the quarter of S. Alessandro," and is called the " Polizza
[or Census] of Master Paolo the painter, son of the late Ser Bartolomeo
Caylina, in Brescia."
The first items refer to the persons constituting Paolo Caylina's family,
and then follow statements relating to the house owned by him, to his
creditors, and to the debts for which he was liable. Upon this statement of
his possessions, his incomings and outgoings, the painter was assessed for the
amount of the annual tax due to the Commune. The debts, enumerated by
Paolo Caylina (part 11) represent practically what, as heir to Vincenzo
Foppa, he had to disburse for the illness, the funeral, and the legacies
and bequests of his uncle.
The sum of 28 lire, 15 soldi, a not inconsiderable amount, due to the
prior to the publication of Zamboni's work it was traditionally asserted that Foppa was
still alive in 1505 ; Zani {op. cit.) says that in spite of the epitaph he must refrain from
giving the date of the painter's death, having read somewhere that Foppa was still
living in 1505; and Lanzi, it might be inferred, also held this view. Brugnoli,
though he admitted that the stone was no longer in existence when he wrote (in 1826),
held that Zamboni's statement was conclusive, and it
then became an established fact
that Foppa died in 1492. In the light of all the recent discoveries alluded to above,
we venture to hope that this error may now be corrected in future histories of art.