Giovanni battista fontana biography of albert einstein

Biography

Italian painter, part of a family of painters, draughtsmen and printmakers, active in Austria. His training was based on the works of such masters as Titian and Veronese, and his activity in Austria, documented from , comprised substantial decorative projects and altarpieces, drawings and numerous engravings. In he and his brother Giulio Fontana (active –) executed frescoes (destroyed) in the chapel of Schloss Kaiser-Ebersdorf in Vienna; in he was in Innsbruck, where he settled and in became court painter to Archduke Ferdinand of Austria.

In Innsbruck he created frescoes for the oratory of the Hofkirche; the spheristerion (); the Silberne Kapelle, built by Giulio Fontana, in which he executed 14 scenes of the Passion (); and a room in the castle (). A more important work was the decoration of the ceiling of the dining-hall of Schloss Ambras, illustrating Allegories of the Zodiac, the Elements and the Planets (–84; in situ). In Fontana painted the altarpiece for the Gotteshaus in Seefeld and in a portrait of the Cardinal Archduke Andreas of Austria; in he provided drawings for the catalogue of the collection of armour at Schloss Ambras.

Seventy-eight etchings (–79) have been attributed to Giovanni Battista Fontana, but they present considerable stylistic and technical disparities and are not always signed or initialed; possibly Giulio Fontana contributed to them. The engravings include prints of paintings by Titian, Veronese and Domenico Campagnola, as well as original designs by Giovanni Battista Fontana; in many cases he probably produced only the drawing. Of four additional folios (Passavant), that depicting the Flight into Egypt (), initialed B.F., has a freedom and immediacy of touch reminiscent of Campagnola’s xylographs. In other copper engravings, however, Fontana used a fine point to render minute depictions: for example, a series of twenty-seven illustrations of the story of Romulus and Remus (), dedicated to the Archduke, and a series of seven sheets with the Parables of Christ, set in picturesque landscapes of northern style, which are among his most convincing works.