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

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236 VINCENZO FOPPA
ship of the oratory, and on the above-named day received in
charge from his
predecessor in office all the contents of the building, among which, however,
no altarpiece is mentioned.^
In November, 1532, Pietro Tonini in his turn retires from the office, and
hands to his successor, Andrea Ballini, the inventory of the goods of the
oratory ; at the end of the list, among "articles provided by the said Maestro
Pietro," we have "one picture painted with the figure of the Virgin Mary and
SS. Faustino and Giovita, placed over the altar. ""
Turning to the Indici Poncarali,^ a volume in the same archives at Brescia,
we gain a little further information, namely, that Pietro Tonini was not the
donor of the picture, but that he had provided it with the alms of the faithful
at some period between 1530 and 1532, the price paid being doubtless a modest
one ; this might perhaps explain the entire absence of gold throughout the
picture in the Camera di Commercio (even for the glories, yellow paint only
is used) and the rough and careless painting of some parts of the work. We
know from another volume in the Archivio Municipale^ that in 1594 the
oratory was rebuilt, and the wording of the document recording this fact
coincides in a remarkable manner with the wording of the inscription on the
picture, which alludes to the gloom of the place whence it was taken. The
passage stating the reasons which necessitated the rebuilding is as follows :
"Because of the darkness and the damp of the place ... it is with
difficulty that the Divine Offices and especially the
Mass can be celebrated in
the Chapel near Porta Brusata, formerly dedicated by this city to the glorious
martyrs Faustino and Giovita," etc.^
From the same document we learn that during the rebuilding the relics of
SS. Faustino and Giovita enshrined in the altar, were removed to the cathedral.
By February 21, 1595, the building was completed, and the relics were
on that day replaced in the newly constructed altar ; "^ but no mention is made
of the picture. On the other hand, we know from Carboni," Brugnoli,^ and
other Brescian writers,' that Bagnadore, the Brescian painter and architect,
who flourished towards the close of the sixteenth century, was commissioned
to paint an altarpiece for the oratory in which the Madonna and Child with
^ See Istr., f. 36.
^ "Res facte per dictum Magistrum Petrum : . . . unus quadrus pinctus cum
imagine Virginis Marie et SS. Faustini et Jovite positus super altare" (Istr., f. 93).
^ f- 264. 4 Registrum P. f. 30 v. and foil.
* "Quia tarn ob loci obscuritatem et humiditatem . . . divina officia et presertim
missa vix poterant celebrari in sacello secus portam brusatam olim per banc civitatem
dicato gloriosissimis Mardribus Faustino et Jovite," etc. {loc. cit.)
« Loc. cit., f. 31.
T
Le Pittttre, etc., di Brescia, p. 13.
* Niiova Guida di Brescia, etc., p. 70.
^
Fe, VII, p. 5, etc.