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

Chap. X. SCHOOL OF FOPPA : BERGOGNONE
247
eventually became.
Fresh from contact with the greatest masters of the day
in North Italy, endowed with those virile qualities and artistic gifts which
marked him out as a leader among his contemporaries, Vincenzo Foppa
infused into the school those qualities which were lacking in its constitution ;
he transformed it fundamentally and bestowed upon it new life, so that what
we now call the early school of Lombardy,' that is the only Lombard school,
as such, known to us in the present day through existing works, is practically
the school of Vincenzo Foppa ; a school therefore which, in a certain sense,
may claim him as its true founder, and without restrictions whatsoever, as its
supreme leader and head. That the leader of the school formed many direct
pupils is proved by the existence of numerous works showing their close
dependence upon him. It would certainly be an additional satisfaction if we
were able to strengthen this internal evidence by documentary proof, by citing
some contract between Foppa and one or other of those painters who served
their apprenticeship with him ; but though a great number of such agreements
between masters and their pupils are known to us, especially in the
archives at Pavia, we have never been fortunate enough to discover one
relating to Foppa. In this case, therefore, we must rely entirely on the
evidence of the works of art themselves.
It would be impossible even to attempt an enumeration of the countless
paintings in which the influence of Foppa on contemporary art is apparent,
but a few of the most striking examples may be cited among those evidently
produced by pupils and even assistants of the master, or by artists who,
though removed from the sphere of his immediate influence, still show signs of
having been in some degree affected by his works.
Thus in the Ambrosiana we have Bergognone's' celebrated altarpiece from
the Church of S. Pietro in Ciel d' oro at Pavia, which demonstrates in every
line, in every type, in the quality of the flesh tones, in the scale of the colouring
and technique of the painting, and in many other details its direct descent
from Foppa.' This is proved also by numerous other works of Bergognone,
'
Which is certainly not to be limited to Milan alone, but includes also the painters
of Pavia as well as those of the whole area of Milanese territory.
"^
This painter is usually, but erroneously, called ^orgognone, though many years
ago Don Pietro Moiraghi proved, from the evidence of documents and of the master's
own signature, that the name was unquestionably Bergognone; this form of spelling is
now very generally adopted by Italian writers. See among others Beltrami, A. da
Fossano, etc., Malaguzzi Valeri, Pittori Low bard i, and Brera Catalogue, 1908.
'
The author of the Catalogue of the Milanese Exhibition at the Burlington Fine
Arts Club, 1898, however, holds that the "predominant influence in this picture is not
Foppa's, but Zenale's" (p. xxxi).
For purposes of comparison we give an illustration of
this picture which may assist in deciding the question of its artistic descent.