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

238 VINCENZO FOPPA
hand, the type of the Madonna is unduly soft and weak for Foppa and shows
nothing of his distinctive character, and her hands are of a form never met
with in his works ;
the scale of the colouring and the technique of the painting
seem also far removed from his methods.
The Poldi Madonna, as is well known, has been attributed by some critics
to Floriano Ferramola, the Brescian painter ;
but on comparing it with his
signed picture in the Berlin Gallery and with his works at Lovere and Brescia,
it is impossible to accept this attribution. That it was produced by some
painter who approached Foppa nearly and who was working with him at
a comparatively early period of his career is certain, but more than this it is
impossible to say, nor have we ever met with a second work which could be
ascribed to the author of this picture. He appears to us to be a painter of
decided individuality, whose style and technique it should not be difficult to
recognize in other works, should any by his hand be in existence.
In the choice collection of Signor Benigno Crespi at Milan is a Madonna
and Child ascribed to Foppa and reproduced as such in Professor Venturi's
illustrated catalogue of this gallery, but we think that this panel should rather
be considered a product of the master's school. The incorrect drawing of the
seated figure of the Virgin and the insignificance of her expression, the heavy
opaque colour, added to other particulars, such as the form of the Infant
Saviour's head, the claw-like hand of the Madonna, the awkward pose of the
arm, and the feeble outline of the drapery, seem to indicate that it cannot be
by Foppa's own hand, though it is undoubtedly derived from one of his compositions—
namely, the Madonna belonging to Mr. Johnson of Philadelphia
—and is probably the work of one of the master's immediate followers.
In the category of works bearing the name of Foppa which can only be
regarded as by his pupils or assistants we should also place the angel in the
museum at Verona, which came originally from Brescia, and was presented to
the gallery in 1865 by a Signor Albertini.^ It is the fragment of a fresco of
the Annunciation, in a very bad state of preservation ;
the type is founded upon
the models of Foppa, but it is too weak in drawing, and too poor and empty
in expression, to be by his own hand, though connected with works of his
school at Brescia ;" the form of the head, the mild expression of the features,
and the feeble drawing recall a figure of St. Michael in the lower Church of
S. Salvatore, which is inscribed with the name of an otherwise unknown
painter Johannes de Froschis.
1
See Catalogo del Museo Civico, 1865, p. 43, and Cesare Bernasconi in Z' Adige,
etc., No. 2, January 2, 1869.
^
G. Bernardini, Qitadri nel Mitseo Civico di Verona (in Supplemento . . . del
BoUettino . . . delV Istruzione Pubblica, p. 1446), also considers it too poor to be by
Foppa himself.