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

Chap. X. SCHOOL PICTURES :
LILLE,
DIJON 251
Hicjh Altar of the Church of S. Maria delle Grazie. In the case of the
ceiling painting of the Chapel of St. John Baptist at Genoa, and of the altarpiece
of the Spinola family' we know that Foppa's works were the models
recommended to the painters Mazone and Barbagelata. Such instances are of
frequent occurrence in the history of Italian art, and would fully account for
the fact that the panels of saints in the Cook Collection are closely imitated in
every particular from their earlier prototypes in the S. Maria delle Grazie
altarpiece; but they seem to be by a weaker and somewhat later hand than that
of Foppa himself, being more feeble in drawing and expression, and softer in
modelling and handling of the flesh tones, than is ever the case in the works
of the master. The landscape also differs considerably from Foppa's typical
landscape : the painting of the blue distance is wholly unlike anything we
have ever met with in his works and appears to be somewhat late in character.
These saints are ascribed to Zenale in the catalogue of the Cook Collection
of 1907 ;
recently Mr. Herbert Cook reproduced them in the Rassegna
d'Arie'^ a.nd drew attention to the fact that Dr. Frizzoni had suggested the
name of Foppa himself in connection with them. He appeals to students
to decide the question, hence it is probable that they will arouse some
discussion. The reproductions might serve to make an attribution to Foppa
probable, owing to the evident connection of these panels, as we have
already stated, with the Brcra altarpiece ; but a direct study of the pictures
appears to us to prove that they can only be ascribed to some follower of
the master who had access to the models of his workshop.
Another fragment of a polyptych which seems to have been produced by
some painter of Foppa's school is in the Lille Museum.' It represents
St. Anthony of Padua, a full-length figure standing against a gold background
on which the outline of an arch is still traceable ; the calm and earnest
expression, the grey flesh tones,
the harmonious and subdued colour scheme,
the book from which the Saint is reading with its dark red binding and metal
bosses in relief, all recall the methods and treatment of Foppa in the Brera
altarpiece, and confirm the attribution to his school which was first proposed,
we believe, by Mrs. Berenson.^
A striking work of the school of Foppa is the panel of the Madonna
and Child with angels in the Dijon Museum, there strangely enough ascribed
to Carlo Crivelli. The author of this interesting picture has not been
identified, but he must certainly have been a pupil of Foppa. The plastic
modelling of the heads recalls the treatment in
the Castello Madonna and in
1
Chaps. I and vi. - April, 1908.
^ Galerie des Primitifs, No. 988.
* See M. Logan in Chronique des Arts, 1896, p. 317.