Born in Milan on April 10, 1844, died in the same city on November 25, 1907. He was a pupil of the Brera Academy; he then attended the studio of the engraver Bramati, that of Notaris and the school of Bertini. He exhibited a lot in Italy and abroad; in Munich, London, Philadelphia, where he won a medal in 1876, and in Paris, where he obtained an honorable mention in 1889. Works by him: The Russian bride, exhibited in Brera in 1871; The arrest of Baccio Valori and Filippo Strozzi, who figured in Parma in 1870; Robert the Devil, exhibited in Vienna in 1873 and in Philadelphia in 1876; Aesop who tells his fables to the handmaids of Xanto, exhibited in Brera and which was awarded the Prince Umberto prize in 1876, now in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Milan; Head of a woman and The last to appear was a crooked leg, exhibited in Rome in 1883; The return from the market, in Turin in 1884; Portrait and the Favorite, in Milan in 1886; A head of a little girl; Breakfast of Bébé e Pensosa, which appeared in Venice in 1887; Clouds, exhibited in Gorizia in 1900. Other works: Convalescent; Portrait of Signor Antonio Zuccoli; Cobbler on the tray; Image of the Madonna, all in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Milan; We do not cure the uncertain tomorrow. Fontana was a simple and correct painter, an effective representative of family life.