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

244 VINCENZO FOPPA
again on p. 320 he reverts to the subject of Foppa's predilection for drawing
"figure quadrate," and "Bramante," he continues, "following in his steps,
also produced a similar hook which afterwards was of great service to Raphael,
Polidoro, and Gaudenzio, a book which eventually came into the possession, it
is said, of Luca Cambiaso."'
The substance of this is repeated with more or less accuracy by later
writers: by Morigia, in his Historia dell' antichita di Milano (1592); by
Picinelli and Argelati,^ who on the strength of this treatise number Foppa
'^
among Milanese writers ; by Bottari,^ in whose hands Foppa's treatise on the
theories of proportion and perspective becomes a treatise on architecture ;
by Albuzzio, who revives the story of Albert Diirer's plagiarism ; and by many
more. It does not, however, appear that any of these writers ever saw the
MS., nor has the slightest trace of such a work ever come to light, and the
whole story rests only upon Lomazzo's words. As we know of but one
drawing which could with any probability be ascribed to Foppa, it is obvious
that we have no means of testing the accuracy of the statement that he was
actually the pioneer in whose steps Albert Diirer followed, and the whole tale
must be characterized as extremely improbable, though we have no reason to
doubt that books of his drawings existed, and that some may have been in the
possession of Lomazzo.'
In glancing back once more at the life work of Vincenzo Foppa as we see
it represented in his known works, we might conclude that his range of
subjects was limited, and was confined without exception to the treatment of
religious themes, usually of a calm, dignified, but unemotional character.
Never, so far as we know—speaking of existing works—did he treat an Old
Testament subject, did he venture into the domain of mythology, or did he
^
Owing to a mistaken interpretation of this passage by eighteenth century writers,
it has been wrongly stated that a book containing drawings by Foppa himself, eventually
came into the possession of Luca Cambiaso. See Bottari, RaccoUa di Lettcre, etc.,
Ill, p. 341, No. 211, ed. 1759.
- Ateneo dei Letterati Milanesi, p. 512, 1670.
2 Bibl. Script. Med., I, 638, 1745.
^ Vasari, ed. 1759, Vol. I, additional notes, p. 34.
^ In his chapter on the theory of proportion {Trattato, Lib. I, p. 100), Lomazzo
speaks of the drawings of Foppa, classing them with those of Leonardo, Bramante, and
Zenale, and in chap, viii (Lib. V) he mentions him with the same painters and with
Mantegna, as one of the few who understood the principles of aerial perspective and who
had written on the subject ; on p. 227 (Lib. IV) he eulogizes his skill in the treatment
of light, and on p. 317 (Lib. VI) speaks highly of his knowledge of perspective as
evidenced by his frescoes in the Chapel of St. Peter Martyr at Milan, though, as
already stated in chap, in, he there calls him "Vincenzo Civerchio cognominato il
vecchio."