Vincenzo Foppa was an Italian painter from the Renaissance period. While few of his works survive, he was an esteemed and influential painter during his time and is considered the preeminent leader of the Early Lombard School. He spent his career working for the Sforza family, Dukes of Milan, in Pavia, as well as various other patrons throughout Lombardy and Liguria. He lived and worked in his native Brescia during his later years.
Very little is known about the early life and training of Foppa. He was born in Bagnolo Mella, a small commune near the city of Brescia. At the time, there were few esteemed painters in the region, and the art scene in Brescia was lacking. It is therefore likely that Foppa had to seek artistic training elsewhere. Some of his earliest exposures to art were likely frescoes painted by Gentile da Fabriano in the Broletto Chapel in Brescia and the woven Annunciation by Jacopo Bellini. The latter artist was one of the strongest influences on him, and it is possible that Foppa was directly apprenticed to Bellini. He also may have been apprenticed to Bonifacio Bembo. Some historians suggest that Foppa may have had early training in Padua with Francesco Squarcione, though his earliest works are more stylistically reminiscent of Pisanello and Gentile da Fabriano. It is most likely that Foppa went to Verona for his training.
The earliest known work attributed to Foppa is The Madonna and Child with Angels. Compositionally, this painting is reminiscent of the Veronese style due to its Gothic appearance, contributing to speculation that Foppa was trained in Verona, possibly by Stefano or Michelino da Besozzo. However, the piece also has unique aspects indicative of the artist’s personal touch, such as the grayish skin tone, which would become a defining aspect of the Lombard school. However, the figures in The Madonna and Child with Angels are not nearly as lifelike as those featured in the painter’s later works. The next work known to be by Foppa’s hand is his Crucifixion, painted at Bergamo in 1456. This work marked a significant step forward for Vincenzo, as his representation of humans matured considerably between the completion of the Madonna and the Crucifixion. The painting is exceedingly similar to a Jacopo Bellini work of the same name, lending credibility to the notion that Foppa may have spent time training with Bellini in Venice. The work also uses elements associated with the Veronese school, such as the hilly landscape and fictional city featured in the background. While the composition is nearly identical to the earlier Bellini work, Foppa’s delicate coloring and advanced naturalist depiction of the three crucified men indicate his considerable talent, even at such an early stage of his career.
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.
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 honored 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 the 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.

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