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

52 VINCENZO FOPPA
painters of the Renaissance/ and the Director of the Wallace Collection in
the most recent edition of the Catalogue,- now ascribe the fresco definitely to
the master on stylistic grounds,^ an attribution which seems in every way justified
by the aspect of the work.
Comparing the fresco with other authentic paintings by Foppa, and
especially with the altarpiece of S. Maria delle Grazie at Bergamo now in the
Brera, we find many points of similarity between the two works in outward
characteristics : the straight nose, the drawing of the eyes, the manner in
which the hair is parted on the forehead and falls over the ears are very
similar in both compositions. The form of the right hand resembles that of
the angel striking the chords of the lute in the Brera altarpiece, and the pose
and form of the left hand holding the book, in spite of the defective drawing of
the thumb, recall the manner of Foppa in other works, while in the more modern
spirit which this fresco displays, and in the greater freedom and development
of the whole composition, it seems more nearly allied to works of later
and the Adoration of the Magi
date, such as the fresco in the Brera of 1485,
in the National Gallery.
The child of the Wallace fresco is clad in light blue, with an overdress of
red shading to lilac ; a lighter shade of the same colour is seen in the socks,
which are drawn over his blue hose. This shade of reddish lilac is a colour
which we shall find constantly repeated in Foppa's works, and for which he
appears to have had a special predilection ; light blue and red is again seen in
the bindings of the books in the recess on the right. The trees and bushes
in the background, seen through an opening in the centre of the composition,*
are painted in a manner altogether reminiscent of Foppa, and the architectural
and other details have also much in common with his methods of treatment
and design.^
^
p. 219, 2 p 52, ed. 1908.
^ It is only fair to state that more than two years ago Signor Attilio Schiaparelli
of Milan informed us that he considered this fresco "an undoubted work by
Foppa."
* In this background we may have a reminiscence of the garden of the palace, which
was reached from the main courtyard, and had a loggia twenty-seven braccia in length
opening on to it. This is the loggia referred to in four letters of Pigello (Nov. 15,
1455, April 9 and 24, and May 14, 1456), in which the arms and devices of Cosimo and
Piero de' Medici were to be painted, and here too were the episodes from the story of
Hercules, mentioned by Filarete, and therefore executed before 1464. The garden
loggia is quite distinct from the loggia of the palace, where Foppa's Justice of Trajan
and other frescoes were painted.
^ Compare especially the Arcore Annunciation, details in the predella of the Brera
altarpiece (chap, v), the background of the St. Sebastian Brera (chap, vi), and certain
architectural features in the National Gallery altarpiece (chap. viii).