Antonio Fontanesi
Antonio Fontanesi | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 17 April 1882 | (aged 64)
Nationality | Italian |
Occupation | artist |
Antonio Fontanesi (23 February 1818 – 17 April 1882) was an Italian painter who lived in
Early life
Fontanesi was born in Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, and trained with the landscape painters Prospero Minghetti and Vincenzo Carnevali. From 1841 to 1846 he made theatre sets and began painting landscapes.
In 1848, he joined a group of Garibaldian volunteers, that went to Milan to fight with the Manara Legion, against the Austrians.[1] In 1859, he was again to briefly join Cavour's armed forces in Bologna.
In 1850, he moved to Geneva, where he stayed until 1865. His main area of interest was landscape painting, which he expanded on after visiting the 1855 Exposition Universelle in Paris. In 1863, he attempted to settle in London, but found few commissions or work. he completed a series of watercolors of paintings in the National Gallery. He returned to Florence, where he stayed with the fellow painter Cristiano Banti.[2]
He participated in important artistic exhibitions, displaying his works in Lyon, Turin, Milan, Florence, Genoa and the Triennial Exhibition of Fine Art in Bologna. He was nominated professor at the Academy of Lucca, but moved to Turin when a chair as a landscape professor was created specially for him at the Accademia Albertina in Turin from 1869 to 1876. Among his pupils was Carlo Follini.
There are a number of monuments to Fontanesi in his native Reggio Emilia, including the Monument in Parco del Popolo.
Career in Japan
In 1876, the Technical Fine Arts School (Kobu Bijutsu Gakko), (later part of the University of Technology, and later the Tokyo Institute of Technology), an art school of painting and sculpture was founded in Tokyo under the supervision of the Ministry of Industry. It was the first governmental art school founded in Japan.
Upon recommendation of the Italian minister to Tokyo, Count
Fontanesi introduced the techniques of
from life. His career in Japan was cut short by serious illness, which forced him to return to Italy in 1878.See also
References
- Mason, Penelope. History of Japanese Art. Prentice Hall (2001). ISBN 0-13-117602-1
- Sadao Tsuneko, et al. Discovering the Arts of Japan: A Historical Overview. Oxford University Press (2003). ISBN 4-7700-2939-X
- [3]
- ^ *Calderini, M (1901). Catalogo Illustrato La Biennale de Venezia Volume 4 (Mostra Retrospettiva). Stabilimento di Carlo Ferrari. pp. 122–131.
- ^ Biennale, page 124
- JSTOR 2382598.