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

Chap. II. THE JUSTICE OF TRAJAN 49
elaboration of detail and with the addition of Pope Gregory, who is seen on
a balcony praying for the soul of Trajan, is met with in a rare engraving by
Giov. Maria da Brescia, dated 1502 ;'
and another Brescian, a painter named
Giovanni, appealed to the Doge of Venice in 15 14 for permission to publish
a series of woodcuts illustrating the history of Trajan ;
^
the subject was
therefore a favourite one with artists of this city. Giovanni Maria da
Brescia's plate, though executed at a considerably later period, is clearly
founded upon the drawing in the Print Room at Berlin or on some lost
version closely related to it. The similarity of the two versions is so obvious
that it is unnecessary to point out all the numerous links which connect
the one with the other; they will be seen at once on comparing the illustration
of the Berlin drawing with that of the engraving.^ The latter shows
also in many particulars a dependence upon other works by Foppa which
belong in all probability to the close of the fifteenth century or the early years
of the sixteenth ; such as the Pieta at Berlin, and more especially the Adoration
of the Magi in our National Gallery, to which we have already alluded,*
a connection easily explained, for at the time when this engraving was produced
(1502) both artists were living at Brescia.
The attribution to Foppa of the Berlin drawing was first proposed,
we believe, by Dr. Frizzoni, and the suggestion was adopted by other
critics ; but as no drawings by the master are known, and as it cannot be said
that his character is deeply impressed upon every part of this sketch, we can
only venture to ascribe it to him tentatively, after having pointed out what
appear to us to be its most Foppesque features.
We regret to see that recent criticism has returned to the view that it is by
Ercole Roberti, and as such it is now catalogued at Berlin;^ but we can see no
connection between any of this master's known works, either pictures or drawings,
and this sketch for the Justice of Trajan. Setting aside the fact that
Ercole Roberti's outward characteristics are absent from this drawing, we feel
convinced that a master who excelled as did he,
in depicting scenes of violent
agitation and emotion, would not have treated a subject which was capable of
a highly dramatic rendering, in so calm and placid a spirit, while it is
precisely these qualities which appear to us to link the composition closely
with Jacopo, and through him, to a certain extent, with Foppa.
It is strange that Professor Ricci should deny that the drawing shows any
'
Bartsch, XIII, 312, 313; Passavant, Peintre Graveur, V, 113.
- Gaye, Carteggio, II, 136, No. Ixxxi.
' Our illustration is taken from the impression in the Albertina, Vienna. Professor
Boni, op. cit., p. 22, reproduces the impression in the Ambrosiana.
* See also chaps, viii and x, pp. 209, 259.
* Zeichnungen . . . im K. Kupferstichkabinet . . . Berlin, XX, E.
E