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

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VINCENZO FOPPA
were taught, and it was doubtless often visited by Mantegna, who became
Jacopo's son-in-law in 1453, as well as by other Paduans, for it seems probable
that the school of Jacopo Bellini was one of the most frequented of the
day, and that as a teacher he enjoyed a great reputation in North Italy. But
in course of time the fame of the pupils completely overshadowed that of the
master, and Vasari's depreciatory words: "I will say no more of Jacopo,
because his works are not remarkable as compared with those of his sons," no
doubt contributed to thrust him yet further into the shade.' By his contemporaries
he was nevertheless considered of equal if not of greater importance
than Pisanello, as appears from the oft-quoted lines of the fifteenth century
poet Ulysses" describing the portraits
of Lionello d'Este painted in competition
by Jacopo and Pisanello.' The palm was awarded to Bellini by the
Duke Niccolo III, who pronounced this painter's likeness of his son to be
very living. "Hence," continues the poet, "he (Jacopo) was first and il
Pisano second."*
From the close connection between Foppa's Crucifixion at Bergamo and
Jacopo Bellini's works, we may assume that Vincenzo was one of those who
frequented his workshop certainly before 1450. The few paintings which still
exist by Jacopo Bellini would not be sufficient in themselves to prove the
closeness of Foppa's relations with him, i.e. the Madonnas of Lovere, Venice
and Bergamo, the fresco transferred to canvas, Christ upon the Cross, in the
gallery at Verona, and a few other works ascribed to him by different critics ;
but it is in his drawings, principally contained in the well-known sketchbooks
in London and Paris,' that this connection is most strikingly apparent.
1 I, 431, ed. 1568.
2 Venturi {Arch. Veil., T. XXX, 1885, p. 412) identifies him with the Paduan notary
Ulisse de' Aleotti who in 1448 settled a dispute between Squarcione and Mantegna
(Stefan!, in Arch. Veil., XXIX, pp. 191, 192).
^ The competition must have taken place, according to the proofs adduced by
Venturi, in the summer of 1441. Before the end of August of that year both competitors
had left Ferrara, Pisanello having gone to Mantua and Bellini to Venice. The
literature dealing with this subject is considerable. Among the more important contributions
are the following : A. Venturi, G. da Fabriano and Pisanello, p. 46 and foil.,
and his articles in Riv. Stor. It., Anno I, fasc. iv, 1884, and Kiinstfreund, 1885, No. 19;
Spaventi, Pisanello, 1892, p. 10; Hill, Pisanello, 1905, p. 139, etc. ; C. Ricci, Jacopo
Bellini e i suoi libri di disegni, I, pp. 12 and 52, 1908.
* " Onde lui (Jacopo) primo, et poi il Pisan secondo." The poem, with the heading
" Ulixis pro insigni Certamine," is in the Royal Library at Modena. See Ricci, op.
cit.,
p. 52, who publishes the whole poem and a second, less frequently quoted, in praise
of Jacopo by the same poet.
^ A Madonna and Child, acquired for the Uffizi in 1906 and ascribed to Jacopo
Bellini, is evidently founded upon a drawing by this master in the Paris sketch-book,
though doubts have been cast upon the authenticity of the painting.