THIS small town seems to have produced little local talent previous to the birth of Foppa. Ottaviano Prandino, who had worked with Altichiero at Padua, and Bartolommeo Testorino (died about 1429) are little more than names.

Vincenzo Foppa (1427?–1516?) was born near Brescia. The theory that he studied under Squarcione at Padua lacks confirmation. On the other hand, he seems to have been little affected by the Squarcionesque traditions, and is rather to be regarded as the artistic product of the school of Verona, where he would have come under the influence of Pisanello and Jacopo Bellini. He may have been a friend of Andrea Mantegna. It is, however, not in Brescia, but in Milan that Foppa’s art may be studied to-day. He arrived in Pavia about 1458, and became the founder of the school of Milan twenty years before Leonardo first took up his abode at the court of Lodovico Il Moro.

Foppa’s pupil Vincenzo Civerchio (1470?–1544) and Floriano Ferramola (1480–1528) were the joint founders of the school of Brescia; Romanino (1485–1566) was a pupil of the latter. The Louvre is singularly poor in its representation of this school, which cannot here be studied earlier than the (so-called) Portrait of Gaston de Foix (No. 1518) by Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo (1480?–1548?). This canvas, which appears to be signed

shows unmistakably the conflicting influences, mostly Venetian, under which this artist worked.

Moretto (1498?–1555?), who was a pupil of Ferramola and was influenced by Savoldo and Romanino, produced large and striking altarpieces as well as portraits. He met with some success in his attempts to combine a subtlety of feeling peculiar to himself with the “silvery” tones of which he was so fond. His St. Bernardino of Siena and St. Louis of Toulouse (No. 1175) and his St. Bonaventura and St. Anthony of Padua (No. 1176) are arched panels on a much smaller scale than he often uses.

Moretto’s pupil, Giambattista Moroni (1525?–1578), painted many far better portraits than that of An Old Man seated (No. 1395). The only other Brescian painting in this collection seems to be the Portrait of a Man (No. 1646), who is seen at half length, seated three-quarters to the left and wearing a robe trimmed with fur. Although catalogued as an unattributable Italian work, it is in our opinion by Calisto Piazza of Lodi (fl. 1520–1560), the son of Martino Piazza of the Milanese school. To Calisto da Lodi has been assigned the Portrait of a Knight of Malta (No. 1594) which is catalogued as being by Titian.

The Louvre is very inferior to the National Gallery in both the quality and quantity of pictures of this school.