Oil Paint

Beautiful impressionist style painting of a man in a boat among large trees with a sunrise in the background by artist Antonio Fontanesi.

Antonio Fontanesi was born in 1818 in Italy. In 1842 he worked as a set designer for the Municipal Theatre of Reggio Emilia, then adapted to decorate private homes. In Turin, he entered the Legion Lombard volunteers and participated in the first war of Independence, remaining marked by the harshness of war. In 1850 he settled in Geneva, where he soon won the respect and the support of A. Calame and others. Fontanesi filled the album with subjects in delicate and pleasant pastels. In 1855 he left Paris for Geneva, where he went on the revealing Universal Exposition, ''Barbizon School'', having confirmed his interest in landscape painting. In 1861 he exhibited several works in Paris and won the acclaim of Corot and Courbet. In 1862 he was present at the Turin. Towards the end of 1865 he went to London, where he stayed for about a year, thus having the opportunity to admire and study Turner and Constable. After this experience, he returned to his homeland to stay again in Florence, stopping in this city throughout 1867; Here he attended the coffee circle Michelangelo, thus entering into contact with the Macchiaioli, from which was openly admired and respected. On January 8, 1869 he obtained the chair of landscape to the Royal Albertine Academy of Turin. In 1873 he participated in the Universal Exhibition in Vienna and in 1874 the exhibition Promoter of Turin, which was for him a memorable triumph. And he received the offer of a professorship in Reggio Emilia and an Imperial Academy of Tokyo and chose to leave for Japan. He taught here for two years (1876-1878), not finding, though an intimate and subjective painter par excellence, fruitful inspiration from the exoticism of new places. Yet he left an incisive sign of his stay in the current called '' western '', a group of painters of the Meiji period. He then returned permanently to Turin, where he painted his greatest masterpieces. He passed away in 1882.

H 34.5 in. X W 42.25 in. X D 2.75 in.

H 28 in. x W 35.5 in.