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By 1456, Vincenzo Foppa was working independently as an artist and had likely moved to Pavia, where he was living by 1458 at the latest. By this time, he had married a fellow Brescian by the name of Caylina, the daughter of Caterina de Bolis of Cremona, and had children with her. The art community in Pavia was more developed than that in Brescia, although less so than in Milan thanks to the leadership of Michelino da Besozzo. At some point, Foppa was contracted by the Sforza family to work in Pavia. This arrangement was likely facilitated by Bartolomeo Gadio, overseer in chief for the Duke, and Foppa likely worked first on the Castello of Pavia. While it is unclear what works Foppa was specifically enlisted for, he clearly made a strong impression on Duke Francesco Sforza. Vincenzo received an effusively praiseful letter of recommendation from Sforza which enabled him to receive patronage from the Doge of Genoa and the priors of the confraternity of St. John for frescoes in the Chapel of St. John the Baptist in the Cathedral of Genoa. Foppa had gone to Genoa in 1461 to evade the plague present in Pavia at the time, returning to Pavia in 1462 with only the ceiling completed. He eventually returned to complete the Chapel in 1471, though all of his work there was lost in the 16th century. In the following year, Foppa painted a number of works that have since been lost, such as an altarpiece for the Chapel of St. Bernardino at Morimondo and frescoes from the life of the Blessed Isnardo of Vicenza in the Dominican Church of St. Tommaso at Pavia. |
Milan |
In 1463, Foppa was called to Milan by Francesco Sforza to work on various projects. The first of these was a fresco for the portico of the new Ospedale Maggiore, depicting the Sforza family ceremonially laying the first stone for the hospital. The architect of the hospital was Filarete, who later honoured Vincenzo Foppa as one of the greatest painters of the era. Foppa was the only painter of Lombardy to receive this distinction. Following this, Foppa painted a series of frescoes to decorate the Medici Bank of Milan, a palazzo building gifted by Francesco Sforza to Cosimo de' Medici. His work there began in 1464, overseen by the representative of the Medici Bank in Milan Pigello Portinari, and was completed by 1467. The frescoes included a series of eight Roman emperors (including one of Trajan for which a provisional sketch still exists) and a portrait of Francesco Sforza and his family. The only surviving fresco from this building features a small boy reading, with the name Cicero engraved on the bench behind him. This work, titled The Young Cicero Reading, is the only known secular work by Foppa that survives today and is located at the Wallace Collection in London. The subject of the painting has been debated by historians, with suggestions including Gian Galeazzo Sforza (grandson of Francesco), Augustus' grandson, and Cicero himself. |
In 1468, Foppa was again commissioned by Pigello Portinari to decorate the Portinari Chapel at Saint Eustorgio in Milan. The Chapel holds the remains of Saint Peter Martyr of Verona, and for a time held those of Portinari himself. While it is not certain that Foppa painted the Chapel himself, the fresco cycle Life of St. Peter Martyr is commonly attributed to him. His work in the Chapel also includes a Doctors of the Church cycle, busts of saints, and an Annunciation. The rainbow decoration of the ribbed dome likely represents a "Beatific Vision" of arrival in paradise, with the rainbow signifying God and implying Portinari's piety. The frescoes in the Chapel display an advanced and creative use of perspective by Foppa, featuring vanishing points outside of the composition. Combined with his use of light and placement of the scenes in everyday settings, this "Lombard perspective" makes the scenes come to life. |
After the death of his father Francesco, Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza continued his family's close relationship with Foppa, first commissioning an altarpiece at Monza in 1466 and making him a member of the ducal household in 1468. Upon a request from Foppa in 1468, the new Duke granted him citizenship in Pavia and safe conduct for six years, allowing the painter to move about Milanese territorial holdings without tolls or taxes. |
Foppa returned to Brescia to paint an altarpiece for the Church of Saint Maria Maddalena in 1472 but had returned to Milan by 1473. Several surviving Madonnas were likely completed around this period, or at some point in the 1460s. Some of these paintings are made to look almost like reliefs or sculptures, exhibiting the influence that sculptors such as Donatello. |
Pavia |
In 1474, Foppa collaborated with Zanetto Bugatto and Bonifacio Bembo on an ambitious altarpiece for the Castello of Pavia, but work on the project was halted when Galeazzo Sforza was murdered in 1476. Some surviving panels have been speculated to be part of this Castello project. The trio also worked on various other commissions in Pavia. Foppa completed several ecclesiastical works during the latter part of the decade, including a number of works featuring the Virgin and Child. Foppa became renowned for these Virgin and Child works, which he continued to produce in the 1480s and for the rest of his career. Many of these pieces are nearly identically composed: Mary holding the baby Jesus in front of a curtain, landscape, or other similar background. Vincenzo did a number of works for Santa Maria di Brera in Milan, including a polyptych titled Virgin and Child with Saints finished around 1476 and a fresco titled Virgin and Child with Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist dated 1485. At Santa Maria di Brera he also completed a fresco of Saint Sebastian, a subject whom Foppa painted several times during the decade. By 1486, Foppa had completed the Bottigella Altarpiece in Pavia Civic Museums, which depicted Silvestro Bottigella and his wife genuflect in front of the Virgin Mary. |
Later years |
By 1489, Foppa was back in Liguria, completing a since-destroyed altarpiece for the Doria Chapel of the Certosa di Rivarola near Genoa in February. The following year Foppa completed another altarpiece, this one for the oratory of Santa Maria di Castello in Savona. This work was commissioned by Giuliano della Rovere, a recurring patron of Foppa during his time spent in Savona. In 1490, Foppa was granted a yearly allowance of 100 lire by Brescia in exchange for continued artistic contributions to the city, marking his return home. In the same year, he frescoed the central Loggetta of the town. He continued to work painting numerous devotional works during his remaining years, which he spent largely in his native Brescia as well as Pavia. His latest known work is dated 1514, and he is believed to have died in 1515 or 1516 in Brescia. |
Style |
Foppa's style was heavily influenced by Bellini, Pisanello, and Mantegna. His human figures are typically shown with a silvery-grey skin tone, a feature that has become the identifying quality of the Lombard school. This colouration gives the subjects an almost morbid appearance. Foppa was celebrated for his use of perspective, light and colouration. While contemporary documents label Foppa as an architect as well as painter, there are no known buildings or structures that he designed. In his Adoration of the Kings, likely painted around the turn of the 16th century, the artist used pastiglia, or paste-work, to provide the work with depth and brightness. He accomplished this by the sgraffito method, laying gold leaf under the area where the three Magi were located in the piece, painting them over the gold, and then scraping off paint to give their crowns and other adornments a genuine golden sheen. The vast majority of Foppa's known works are religious in subject, with a particular focus on paintings of the Virgin with Child. He did not venture far into other subject matters, although due to his dependence on commissions, this may not have been a personal choice. However, this limited scope is likely biased due to which works have survived the centuries, as many of his fresco cycles have been lost to history, and most surviving works are small devotional pieces or altarpiece panels. |
Legacy |
Foppa was renowned as the greatest painter of his era in Lombardy and is considered the founder of the Early Lombard School. While art communities existed in Pavia and Milan before his arrival, it was his work that gave Lombard art an identity and a renewed vitality. During the peak of his career from the 1460s to the 1480s, he was the dominant influence on Lombard art, and contemporary documents testify to his highly esteemed reputation amongst both his patrons and the rest of the artistic community. Foppa was confident in his merit and ability to receive commissions, as he often left cities with jobs unfinished to pursue work elsewhere that he found more interesting or more lucrative. There is evidence showing that at times he had to be exhorted or pressured to complete more trivial works that did not interest him. There are multiple artists who exhibit significant influence by Foppa, including Vincenzo Civerchio, Ambrogio Bergognone, and Girolamo Romanino. His long-term influence was somewhat diminished due to the arrival of Leonardo da Vinci in Milan in 1482. Leonardo's massive persona and artistic influence diluted the importance of Foppa's style. His perception in modern times is also damaged by the sheer volume of his work that has been lost. While he was a prolific painter during his career, relatively few pieces painted by Foppa have survived into the modern era. |
Notable works |
Madonna and Child with Angels, c.1450, Florence, Berenson Collection |
Crucifixion, 1456, Bergamo, Accademia Carrara |
St. Jerome Penitent, c.1460, Bergamo, Accademia Carrara |
Madonna of the Book, 1460–1468, Milan, Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco |
Madonna and Child, 1460–1470, Berlin, Staatliche Museen |
Boy Reading Cicero, c. 1464, London, Wallace Collection |
Frescoes of the Portinari Chapel, 1464–1468, Milan, Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio |
Four Doctors of the Church |
Eight Busts of Saints |
Four Scenes from the Life of St. Peter Martyr : |
Cloud Miracle |
Miracle of the False Madonna |
Miracle of Narni |
Martyrdom of Saint Peter of Verona |
Annunciation |
Assumption of the Virgin |
St. Augustine, 1465–1470, Milan, Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco |
St. Theodore, 1465–1470, Milan, Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco |
St. Christopher, c.1470, Denver, Denver Art Museum |
Evangelists, 1477, Brescia, Carmelite Church of Santa Maria, Averoldi chapel |
Madonna and Child with an Angel, 1479–1480, Florence, Uffizi |
Bottigella Altarpiece, c.1486, Pavia, Civic Museums |
St. Francis receiving the stigmata and St. Giovanni Battista, 1488–1489, Milan, Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco |
Saint Sebastian, c.1489, Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera |
Madonna and Child in a Landscape, c.1490, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art |
Altarpiece, c.1490, Oratory of Our Lady of the Castle, Savona, with Ludovico Brea |
Madonna and Child, 1490–1495, Milan, Museo Poldi Pezzoli |
Madonna and Child, 1492, Brescia, Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta di Chiesanuova |
Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, c.1485, Milan, Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco |
Portrait of Giovanni Francesco Brivio, 1495, Milan, Museo Poldi Pezzoli |
Portrait of an Old Gentleman, 1495–1500, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art |
St. Anthony of Padua, 1495–1500, Washington, National Gallery of Art |
San Bernardino of Siena, 1495–1500, Washington, National Gallery of Art |
Altarpiece of Santa Maria delle Grazie, 1500–1510, Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera |
Adoration of the Magi, c.1500, London, National Gallery |
== References == |
Vincenzo Meucci (1694–1766) was an Italian painter of the late-Baroque period. Born in Florence. He was a pupil first of the painter Sebastiano Galeotti, then of Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole in Bologna. |
He was patronized by the Marchese Giovan Battista Salimbeni of Siena, as well as the cardinals Alessandro Chigi Zondadari and Neri Corsini. His masterpiece was a commission by Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, the last Medici resident of the Pitti Palace, who contracted him to fresco the cupola of the Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze with the Glory of Florentine Saints (1742). |
Among his pupils are Tommaso Gherardini. |
Selected works |
Frescoes for Chapel of San Mauro, Badia Fiorentina, Florence (1717) |
Madonna del Rosario, Santa Lucia alla Castellina, Sesto Fiorentino (1731) |
Frescoes for ceiling at the entrance of Ospedale di San Giovanni di Dio, Florence(1735) |
Frescoes for Palazzo Panciatichi, Florence (c. 1741) |
Marriage of Virgin San Paolino, Florence |
Altarpiece for church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Florence |
Ascension of Christ, frescoed on nave ceiling of San Salvatore al Vescovo, Florence |
References |
Hobbes, James R. (1849). Picture collector's manual adapted to the professional man, and the amateur. London: T&W Boone. p. 97. |
Drawing's from Lille. Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Review author[s]: Luisa Vertova |
The Burlington Magazine (1992) p 141–2. |
Vittore Carpaccio (UK: /kɑːrˈpætʃ(i)oʊ/, US: /-ˈpɑːtʃ-/, Italian: [vitˈtoːre karˈpattʃo]; (born between 1460 and 1465; died c. 1525) was an Italian painter of the Venetian school who studied under Gentile Bellini. Carpaccio was largely influenced by the style of the early Italian Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina (c. 1430–1479), as well as Early Netherlandish painting. Although often compared to his mentor Gentile Bellini, Vittore Carpaccio's command of perspective, precise attention to architectural detail, themes of death, and use of bold color differentiated him from other Italian Renaissance artists. Many of his works display the religious themes and cross-cultural elements of art at the time; his portrayal of St. Augustine in His Study from 1502, reflects the popularity of collecting "exotic" and highly desired objects from different cultures. |
Carpaccio's works ranged from single pieces painted on canvas to altarpieces and large pictorial cycles. Several of the altarpieces, including St. Thomas Aquinas Enthroned (1507), Presentation of Christ in the Temple (1510), and Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand (1515), were commissioned by churches in Venice, while the pieces following the year 1510 were primarily commissioned by individual patrons in Venice. One of his largest pictorial series, The Legend of Saint Ursula, was begun in 1490. |
He is perhaps known best for his large urban scenes, such as the Miracle of the Relic of the Cross at the Ponte di Rialto. This work offers some of the best impressions of Venice at the height of its power and wealth, illustrating the strong sense of civic pride among its citizens. In other paintings he demonstrates a sense of fantasy that seems to look back to medieval romance, rather than sharing in the pastoral vision of the next generation. |
By about 1510 Carpaccio's style was perceived by contemporaries as too conservative, showing little influence from the Humanist trends that transformed Italian Renaissance painting during his lifetime. Scholarship in English dedicated to his biography and works remains meager when compared with the scholarship about his Venetian contemporaries, such as Giovanni Bellini or Giorgione. |
Early life and works |
Carpaccio was born in Venice (between 1460 and 1465), the son of Pietro Scarpaza, a Venetian furrier in the parish of Arcangelo Raffaele. Although Carpaccio's precise date of birth remains unknown, various documents have offered clues in order to narrow it down to a particular span of years. In a will from 1472, his uncle Fra Ilario listed him as an inheritor. According to Venetian customs, this would have indicated that he was at least 15 at this time, suggesting a birth year before 1457. However, a closer examination of Venetian law by scholars led to the discovery that children could be regarded as future heirs, thus Carpaccio's birth year range was raised to c. 1460 to 1465. Another document revealed that Carpaccio continued to live with his father through 1486, signifying late adolescence by this time and confirming this later range of birth years. Peter Humfrey presents the various bits of evidence that scholars have used in order to determine Carpaccio's birth years, as well as the dates of his earliest works, and in turn in which workshop he trained in Venice. Ultimately, the most recent research argues for a birth date between 1460 and 1465; he died around 1525 or 1526. |
Carpaccio (or Scarpaza, Scarpazza or Scarpanza or Scarpanzo, as the name was variously recorded in the Venetian dialect) came from a family originally from Mazzorbo, an island in the diocese of Torcello. Archival documents trace the family back to at least the thirteenth century, and its members were diffused and established throughout Venice. Carpaccio signed two early works with the Venetian form of his last name: first as VETOR[E] SCHARPAÇO in his Virgin and Child (c. 1488) at the Museo Correr (Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia) and then as VETOR SCARPAZO on the parapet in his Salvator Mundi with Four Saints (c. 1490) owned by the Fondazione Luciano Sorlini in Carzago di Calvagese (in Brescia). By 1490, with the painting Arrival in Cologne (part of the Life of Saint Ursula cycle; see below), he began to use variants of the Latin Carpatius and Carpathius. It was not until a 1648 publication that one of his biographers, Carlo Ridolifu, referred to the artist as "Carpaccio" the name for which he is known today.: 3−4 |
Early twentieth-century scholars Molmento and Ludwig argued that Carpaccio's first teacher Lazzaro Bastiani, who, like the Bellini brothers and Vivarini, was the head of a large atelier in Venice. In the end, scarce details remain about his early life, leaving scholars to piece together his early artistic training and formation. In the 2022 catalogue raisonné, Humfrey presents the different arguments for why Carpaccio possibly apprenticed in the Venetian studio of the Bellini family, developing his artistry under the guidance of Gentile Bellini and/or Giovanni Bellini. |
Carpaccio's earliest known solo works are a Virgin and Child (c. 1488 or 1489) at the Museo Correr (Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia) and the Salvator Mundi with Four Saints (c. 1489 – c. 1490) owned by the Fondazione Luciano Sorlini in Carzago di Calvagese (in Brescia). The Virgin and Child reflects the influence of works from the Bellini workshop (Giovanni Bellini and Giovanni Bellini) – especially the Virgin's hands and headdress, along with the figure of the Christ Child. Carpaccio may have also been influenced by the works of Lazzaro Bastiani and Alvise Vivarini, Venetian painters of an older generation. The black backdrop of the Salvator Mundi (Savior of the World) was likely influenced by Antonello da Messina's Salvator Mundi (1475-76). Furthermore, Antonello's use of rounded forms and volumes, along with the three-quarter views of the four surrounding saints likely influenced the aspiring, although immature, style of Carpaccio. |
Carpaccio's Madonna and Child with Two Saints (c.1485-1510) was destroyed during World War II. It was stored in a flak tower in Berlin for safe keeping, but in May 1945, the tower was set on fire and most of the objects inside were destroyed. |
Principal works (1490–1520s) |
Carpaccio's principal works were executed between 1490 and 1519, placing him among the early masters of Venetian painting in the Renaissance. |
By 1490, Carpaccio painted The Legend of Saint Ursula, a series of paintings for the Scuola di Sant'Orsola, one of the religious confraternities in Venice (see below "Narrative Cycles" for more on this series). This series elevated his prominence in early Renaissance Venice, allowing him to distinguish himself as a capable, creative painter skilled in artistic narration and lighting. |
Around 1501–1507, he worked with Giovanni Bellini, painting in the Sala del Gran Consiglio in the Doge's Palace. Like many other major works, the cycle was entirely lost in the fire of 1577. |
Shortly after the year 1502, Vittore Carpaccio's St. Augustine in His Study was painted and signed with the inscription: VICTOR / CARPATHIVS / FINGEBAT. The artist situates the saint in an idealized interior domestic space, alluding to contemporary practices in the art of collecting during the Renaissance period. This painting showcases how objects associated with collecting are meant to spill out within a space and between the rooms of a house. On the left wall of the painting, sculptures, Etruscan vases, and a Mamluk metalwork candlestick are displayed on a shelf, referencing objects that were highly sought after during that time and valued in Renaissance art collecting. |
Carpaccio completed additional narrative cycles and expanded his oeuvre. Between 1502 and 1504, he portrayed episodes from the lives of Saint Jerome and the Virgin Mary. |
The legend of Saint George is referenced in his painting, St. George Baptizing the Selenites (1507). According to the Golden Legend, George, a Christian knight, rescues a Libyan princess who has been offered in sacrifice to a dragon. Horrified that her pagan family would do such a thing, George brings the dragon back to her town and compels them to be baptized. The legend of St. George was enormously popular during the Renaissance, and the confrontation between the knight and the dragon was painted later by numerous artists, such as Albrecht Altdorfer's St. George and the Dragon (1510). |
From 1507 to 1508, Carpaccio executed the work, St. Tryphonius Exorcizing the Demon. |
In 1508, he joined a committee established to assess the frescoes painted by Giorgione, which had been commissioned by the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, a trading post for German merchants. |
Carpaccio appears to have been influenced by Cima da Conegliano, as evidenced in the Death of the Virgin from 1508, at Ferrara. In 1510, Carpaccio executed the panels of Lamentation on the Dead Christ and The Meditation on the Passion, where the sense of sorrow found in such works by Mantegna is backed by extensive use of symbolism. The theme of death is evident in The Meditation on the Passion, as Christ's body sits on a throne with pseudo-Hebrew inscriptions. In the background sit leafless trees, crumbling buildings, and a dry, desert ground—all alluding to the theme of death. During the same year, 1510, Carpaccio paintedYoung Knight in a Landscape, now located in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection of Madrid. |
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