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

Chap. II. FRESCOES IN THE HOSPITAL, MILAN 39
laid with great ceremony by Francesco and Bianca Maria on April 12,
the building being dedicated to the SS. Annunziata."
1457,'
All the incidents relating to this ceremony were, according to Filarete,
depicted on the walls of the colonnade "by the hand of good masters."'
This writer does not name the painters, but in the second edition of
Vasari's Life of Filarete it is stated that under the colonnade these
incidents were depicted by the hand of Master "Vincenzo di Zoppa
Lombardo, because no better painter was found in the land."* As,
however, the building progressed very slowly, it is probable that the
paintings were only executed some five or six years after the laying of
the stone. In 1457 Filarete was occupied in rebuilding the Church of
S. Maria Maggiore at Bergamo, which he looked upon as one of the
great achievements of his life, though nothing now remains to prove
his share in the building, and throughout the winters of 1458 and
1459 the works ceased altogether. It was only in February, 1460, that
Filarete was appointed architect of the building at a fixed salary,' and the
work seems then to have proceeded more energetically. In 1460-61 a
frieze, columns, and other stonework were furnished for the ** portico " and
"facciata del portico verso il Cascinotto, " and in 1463 and 1464 Filarete was
still providing columns and further materials for the same colonnade, while
'
Oettingen, Uber das Leben u. die Werke von . . . Filarete, p. 22, and Trattato,
pp. 366, 367; L. Corio in II Politecnico, 1873, p. 728, and others. Considerable
difference of opinion exists as to the date of the foundation, but April 12, 1457 (the
date given by Filarete and Vasari), seems from every point of view the most likely to be
correct (see Oettingen, Filarete, note 44, p. 59 Meyer, Oberitalienische Fruhrenaissance,
;
I, 81 ; and Munoz, op. cit., p. 187.
-
Ave and Ave Maria is continually repeated in the decorative work throughout the
building, and the arms of the hospital are a dove with a spray of olive in its beak.
According to some Milanese writers (Corio, Stor. di Milano, Pt. V, 400-1 ;
Latuada,
Descrizione di Milano, I, 332; Sormani, Giornata T, etc., 77), Francesco Sforza, who
had been proclaimed Duke of Milan in February, 1450, made his state entry into the
city on March 25, in commemoration of which he placed the hospital under the special
protection of the Virgin of the Annunciation ;
Colombo {Arch. Stor. Lamb., 1905,
pp. 52 and 95) has, however, proved conclusively from contemporary records that the
actual day of the ceremony was March 22.
* Trattato, Bk. XI, 367 ("fatte per mano di buoni maestri ").
*
Vasari, ed. 1568, p. 348, and ed. Mil., II, 457. " Furono poi dipinte nel portico
queste storie, da Maestro Vincenzo di Zoppa Lombardo per non essersi trovato in
paesi miglior maestro."
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This salary was, however, to date from 1457 (see Canetta, Cronologia dell' Ospedale
Maggiore, 1460, February 29. Cf. also Oett., Filarete, 31, 32 and note 52; and
Munoz, op. cit., p. 187, note i).
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