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

;
Chap. X. FERRAMOLA AND PAOLO CAYLINA 263
must be linked that of Paolo Caylina.
The lunette of the Carmine, we are
told by Pagflia, was the work of Ferramola "concorrente di Paolo Foppa " ;
the paintings in the choir of S. Giulia, we gather from a Brescian writer of
the sixteenth century, Pandolfo Nassino, were also by these two masters,
though he omits to give their surnames. According to him the paintings on
the west were by M" Paolo de , those on the east by M Fiorano de
works which cannot now be identified.' These and other similar allusions to
Paolo at Brescia,' taken in
conjunction with all we now know of him in relation
to his uncle, Vincenzo Foppa, render it probable that he was one of the chief
among the group of painters of the transitional period, and that Floriano
Ferramola, who is alluded to as his " concorrente, " was associated with him
either in friendly rivalry or as his collaborator.
Among works of that period when the immediate influence of Foppa was
waning and the current of Brescian art was being turned into other channels,
must be classed the frescoes in a chapel behind the choir of the Carmine at
Brescia, and the Pieta in the Church of S. Afra, a picture characteristic in colour
which appears to be the direct forerunner of the beautiful composition representing
the same subject in the Cook Collection at Richmond, there ascribed
—though the attribution is not altogether convincing—to Moretto. The
Pieta at Brescia now hangs in a chapel on the south side of the lower Church
of S. Afra, having been placed in an old frame, and flanked by the panels
representing SS. Feliciano and Filastrio, bishops of Brescia. Until recently
these panels were hung in the upper church, the two saints on the columns on
either side of the west door, and the Piet4 in a dark corner behind this door
where it was very imperfectly seen. The two saints are so closely connected
with Foppa that they might pass for works of his bottega, while the Pieta is
description of the picture given in the catalogue of the Canford collection (p. 70), we
might infer that in composition it approached in some particulars to the composition of
the same subject in S. Giovanni Evangelista at Brescia (see illustration, p. 206). The
works of Romanino from 15 13 onwards show no connection with the earlier school
and the painters of the transitional period were soon overshadowed by this master
whose influence was certainly the most powerful factor in Brescian art after the first
quarter of the sixteenth century, far outweighing that of Moretto.
1 These paintings must have been executed before July 3, 1528, on which day
Ferramola died (see Pandolfo Nassino, loc. cit., f. 140, 142).
'^
All these notices have been taken by art historians to refer to Paolo Zoppo. One
more instance may be cited of the confusion between this artist and Paolo Caylina.
In 1505 and 1506 a painter was executing work at Ferrara for the Duchess Lucrezia
Borgia ; in documents he is three times referred to as Paolo da Brescia and once as
Paolo da Pavia (see Archivio Stor. delV Arte, 1894, pp. 299, 300). These entries have
been considered to relate to Paolo Zoppo, but the mention of Brescia and Pavia would
seem to indicate that the painter referred to was most probably Paolo Caylina.