_Vincenzo Foppa_ (Lombard: about 1425-1492).
Foppa--Il Vecchio as he is called, to distinguish him from a
younger Foppa of the Brescian School[174]--is an important
person in the history of art. Born at Brescia, but removing
in early manhood to Milan, he "holds both in the School of
Brescia, and especially in that of Milan, the same place that
the mighty Mantegna does at Padua, and Cosimo Tura at Ferrara,"
representing that early period of development when force of
character is more insisted on than beauty of expression. In
relation to the Milanese, Foppa was the founder of the school
which prevailed before and up to the time of Leonardo da
Vinci. He was already an artist of repute in 1456, when he was
employed to decorate the Medici Palace at Milan with frescoes.
These works, and many others executed by him in Milan and the
neighbourhood, have perished. His best remaining frescoes are
those of the Four Fathers of the Church in S. Eustorgio at
Milan. Foppa was also employed in Genoa and Savona. Late in
life he returned to Brescia, where he received a renewed grant
of citizenship, and a pension, and where also he died. Of his
extant works, the earliest is a Crucifixion in the Bergamo
gallery. This is dated 1456, and supports the statement of old
writers that Foppa had studied under Squarcione at Padua. His
latest work is the altar-piece, now in S. Maria di Castello at
Savona. This belongs to the year 1490, and agrees in style with
our National Gallery picture. Foppa is said to have written on
perspective, and many painters of the Lombard School studied
under him.
Traces of the older style of work, from which Foppa freed his school,
may here be seen in the embossed ornaments in gilt stucco. Notice
the daintiness of the picture throughout: the pretty flowers in the
foreground, the splendid brocades of the kneeling king, the birds
and weeds in the ruined stable. In the background are the star and
city of Bethlehem. "The general effect is dark and heavy, relieved
by an abundant use of red; the flesh tones, as usual, are of ashen
hue. The Madonna is of Foppa's characteristic type, of solid build.
It is interesting to find that there is little or no direct trace of
Leonardesque influence, a fact which shows that Foppa was too advanced
in years to modify perceptibly his style on the advent of the mighty
Florentine in 1481" (_Catalogue of the Burlington Fine Arts Club
Exhibition_, 1898, p. xxviii.).