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

Chap. II. SUMMONED TO MILAN BY THE DUKE 37
relating to the B. Isnardo. This act of vandalism was perpetrated in 1763 in
consequence of the importunities of Lorenzo Scagliosi, Rector of the
University, who desired to have the Chapel of St. Catherine decorated with
paintings, stucco, and gilding.'
Thus perished a work of the great master of which we are unable to
give any more precise description, for even the copies are no longer in
existence. The Church of S. Tommaso is now a barrack, and the only
remaining relic of the Chapel of St. Catherine is an almost obliterated
lunette fresco on the south wall of the building, facing down the present
Via Felice Cavallotti, which in character belongs to a later period than
that of Foppa.
Vincenzo had scarcely completed his work for Battista Maletta, when
he received a summons to come immediately to Milan, where the Duke desired
his services "in certain affairs of ours " (Doc. No. 7)." Evidently Francesco
Sforza had had no communication with the painter since his return from
Genoa, for the missive is addressed to the Duke's representative at Pavia, who
is instructed to find Foppa at once. What these "affairs of ours" may have
been we cannot tell,
but the work was undoubtedly of sufficient importance to
decide Foppa's plans for the next few years. A return to Genoa was not to
be thought of under the circumstances, but instead, little more than a month
after the Duke's summons—on July 15th of this year 1462—we find the
painter taking a house at Pavia rvitJi
a workshop, for a term of four years from
the coming Michaelmas ; for which he was to pay an annual rent of eighteen
florins (Doc. No. 8).
Among the witnesses to the contract was the painter Leonardo Vidolenghi,
of Marzano, who, according to Bossi, painted a fresco in the Church of
the Carmine in 1463. This work, a Madonna and Child with saints and
donor, still exists (as already noted, p. 21) on a column on the left, the furthest
from the west door. As one of the few extant works of the early school of
Pavia it is of considerable interest ; but being now, as a protective measure,
covered by a heavy wire netting, it can only be very imperfectly seen. The
signature and date, which were still legible some twenty years ago, have unfortunately
disappeared.
The position of Foppa's house is
accurately described in the contract as in
the quarter of Porta Laudense, that is of the Lodi Gate, in the parish of
S. Martino in Pietra Lata, on two sides facing the street, and on the third
adjoining the Monastery of S. Martino in Pietra Lata, a site now occupied by
'
A parallel case therefore to that of the barbarous destruction of Jacopo Bellini's
fresco at Verona.
- " In alcune nostre cose."