(1512 - 1597) was an Italian painter of the late Renaissance. Fontana was born in Bologna, and became a pupil of Innocenzo da Imola. He afterwards worked for Perin del Vaga in the Palazzo Doria in Genoa. Towards 1550, it is reported that Michelangelo introduced him to Pope Julius III as a portrait-painter; and he was pensioned at the pontifical court. He later joined Vasari's studio in Florence, and worked in frescoes at the Palazzo Vecchio (1563-65). He is an early representative of the Bolognese school of painting. Sabbatini, Sammachini and Passerotti were three of his principal pupils or colleagues. His daughter, Lavinia Fontana, was also a prominent painter of mostly conventional religious canvases. Returning to Bologna, after doing some work in Fontainebleau (France) and in Genoa, he opened a school of art, in which he became briefly the preceptor of Lodovico and Agostino Carracci. He has left a large quantity of work in Bologna. His altarpiece of the Adoration of the Magi, in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, being considered his masterpiece. It is not unlike the style of Paul Veronese. He died in Rome in 1597.   Related Paintings of Prospero Fontana :. | Step | Bedroom in Arles | Lane at the Jardin du Luxembourg (nn04) | Portrat of a young man | The Little Square of St. Marcus |
Related Artists:
Alberto Pasini
Italian Painter, 1826-1899
William Sergeant Kendall
1869-1938
Master of Saint Giles
The Master of Saint Giles (French: Maître de Saint-Gilles) was a Franco-Flemish painter active, probably in Paris, about 1500, working in a delicate Late Gothic manner, with rendering of textures and light and faithful depictions of actual interiors that show his affinities with Netherlandish painting. It is not clear whether the Master of Saint Giles was a French painter who trained in the Low Countries (perhaps more likely), or a Netherlander who emigrated to France. His pseudonym was given him by Max Friedländer, who reconstructed part of the anonymous painter's oeuvre, starting from two panels devoted to Saint Giles (a Miracle and a Mass) in the National Gallery, London, that were part of the lefthand shutter of an altarpiece, and two further panels now in Washington from the same altarpiece. The hand of an assistant can be discerned in the Baptism of Clovis at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, who also have a panel with Episodes from the Life of a Bishop-Saint - perhaps Saint Leu, Saint Denis or Saint Remy. All four panels have, or had, single grisaille figures of saints (Saints Peter, Giles, Denis and an unidentified bishop-saint) in niches, imitating sculpture, on the reverse. The Washington pair, which were in poor condition, have been separated and are lost, although photographs exist. Undoubtedly there were further panels, whose subjects cannot be guessed, as the combination of scenes is original.