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

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8 VINCENZO FOPPA
There can be no doubt that this is the earliest work at present known by
Vincenzo Foppa. The primitive drawing of the figure of the Madonna
betokens a youthful hand ;
the purity and naive simplicity of her expression,
the earnest intentness of the angels, the long, nerveless hands, so closely connected
with those in early Veronese drawings in the Louvre, the Ambrosiana,
and elsewhere, the arrangement of the drapery resembling the treatment in
early pictures of Verona, the exquisite feeling and lyrical charm of the whole
composition which link it closely not only with Verona, but also with the
Paradise pictures of the North and more especially with those of the Central
and Lower Rhine,' all stamp it as a work of the first half of the fifteenth century.
Of the earlier history of this enchanting picture we unfortunately know
nothing.
It was bought some years ago at Cremona by Signor Cantoni, the
Milanese picture-dealer, and was at once recognized as the work of Foppa by
the late Professor Bertini, Director of the Brera. At that time, however, the
composition consisted only of the Madonna and Child with the four angels on
the right, and, there being no angel on the left, the panel was in consequence
narrower by several inches than it now is. From Signor Cantoni it passed
into the collection of Marchese (now Prince) Trivulzio, and subsequently to
this, a curious accident led to the discovery of the missing portion. The
Trivulzio picture having been sent to the atelier of Professor Cavenaghi to be
restored, it was found that a small picture representing an angel musician
belonging to another Milanese collector (Cavaliere Aldo Noseda), which was
also awaiting restoration, undoubtedly belonged to the same composition.
For some reason, unknown to us now, the portion containing the angel must
have been sawn from the main panel, carrying with it a part of the Madonna's
mantle, the rest of the picture being then cut down in order to bring it into
better proportion. The angel was formerly in the Passalacqua Collection at
Milan, beyond which it has been impossible to trace its pedigree ; in the sale
of that collection in 1885 it was described in the catalogue as by an
"Unknown Florentine painter" (!)' On that occasion it was withdrawn,
^ Cf. especially the works of Hermann Wynrich von Wesel (all formerly ascribed
to the mythical Meister Wilhelm), the exquisite Paradise picture by an unknown master
in the Museum at Frankfurt, the Madonna in the rose garden by Stephan Lochner, and
others. We have for many years been firm believers in this connection between
Verona and the schools of the Rhine, to which Dr. L. Venturi has recently drawn
attention in a very interesting chapter of his history of the early Venetian school (chap.
Ill,
73 and foil.). One of the first to lay stress upon the relations between the painters
of Verona and those of the North was Professor Schlosser in an important article in
ihGjahrbuch der Kunstsamml. des Allerhbchst. Kaiserhauses, XVI, 180 and foil.
* See Arte, 1899, P- 321.
^ Cat. delta Coll. Passalacqua, 1885: " Ecole Florentine, Inconnus XIV-XV
si^cle : No. 22, Un ange jouant du Violon, bois, h. 22 c, 1. 13 c."