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

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VINCENZO FOPPA
in his art, and remained paramount for many years, so that even in 1456, at
which time he had certainly attained independence as an artist, his descent
from these two masters is still distinctly traceable, though, as in the Noseda
picture, his own individuality is so patent that it would be impossible to
ascribe it
to any other painter.
We have no certain information as to the length of Foppa's stay at
Verona, or as to the time when his training under Jacopo Bellini came
to an end ; but indirect evidence enables us to set the limit with tolerable
certainty. Knowing as we do (see Doc. No. 15) that in 1456 he was a married
man with a family and assistants, the natural inference is that by 1450 he
must certainly have been independent. In all probability he returned to
Brescia intending to settle there, and soon after married the daughter of a
Brescian named Caylina, her mother being a certain Caterina de Bolis, of
Cremona.
What actually induced him to leave his home for Pavia we cannot tell,
but it was not likely that the narrow limits of a small city like Brescia would
have satisfied an artist of Foppa's great endowments for any length of time ;
he must, after a few years' residence there, have felt the need of a wider field
for the exercise of his powers, and he turned his thoughts to Lombardy as
the sphere of activity most likely to satisfy all his ambitions.
Lomazzo's statement^ that Filippo Maria Visconti was one of his patrons
is certainly incorrect, for the Duke died in 1447, and prior to this period, if
our surmises as to the date of Foppa's birth and the time of his apprenticeship
be correct, he would scarcely have been fitted to undertake independent
work. No trace of his presence in Milanese territory at so early a stage of
his career has thus far come to light, and the first definite mention of him at
Pavia is of the year 1458, though we have reason to think, from the document
alluded to above (No. 15), that he had settled there with his family as early as
1456. The idea of seeking employment at the Court of Francesco Sforza
may first have been suggested to Foppa by his compatriot Bonifazio Bembo,'^
who had been for years in the service of the Duke. Through the instrumentality
of Bembo, or through the relations of his wife, the de Bolis of Cre-
^ Idea del Tempio della Pittura, p. 26.
2 Bembo, though usually called of Cremona, was by birth a Brescian (see F. Sacchi,
Notizie^ etc., p. 212, and Caffi, in Arch. Stor. Lombardo, 1878, p. 82). In one of our
documents (January 20, 1477, App. II, No. 31) Bonifazio is called "de Benbis de
Cremona, son of Giovanni"; this makes it probable that he may have been of the
same family as the painter Andrea da Cremona (see p. 3, note i), who in a Brescian
document of February 27, 1451, is called " Andrea quondam M^ Johannis de Banbis de
Cremona" (see Atti di Giov. Roberti, Arch. Ant. Mun., Brescia).