Prospero Fontana Bologna 1512 - 1597

Acquired in Italy during the late 19th century by the artist Don Agustín de Robert y Suris, on behalf of his brother Don Roberto Robert y Suris, 1st Marqués de Robert and Conde de Torroella de Montgri, for the decoration of Palau Robert, Barcelona, as by 'Paolo Caliari, El Veronés';
Thence by family descent to the great-grand daughter of the 1st Marqués de Robert, the present owner.

Prospero Fontana was born in Bologna in around 1512. The majority of his work belongs to the mannerist tradition which originated in Rome and Florence in the 1520s, but disseminated more widely within Italy following the sack of Rome in 1527. He trained under Innocenzo da Imola (a Raphael follower), although his early style shares greater affinities with the work of Perino del Vaga, with whom he worked on the decoration of the Palazzo Doria and the Palazzo Signoria, Genoa, in around 1528-34. Fontana finally settled in Bologna in 1570, however during the principal years of his career he worked in a number of important artistic centres, where he came into regular contact with other mannerist painters whose work had a profound influence on his style: he made regular visits to Rome, where he enjoyed the patronage of Pope Julius III around 1550 and where in 1553 he worked with Taddeo Zuccaro on the decoration of the Villa Giulia; in 1560 he worked briefly with Primaticcio at Fontainebleau; and in 1563-5 he assisted Giorgio Vasari on the decoration of the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.

This hitherto unrecorded work by the artist can be dated on stylistic grounds to circa 1548-51, during which years Fontana is recorded as working in Bologna and Rome. The figure types reveal a fusion of Roman and Tuscan models, which derive principally from the work of Giorgio Vasari and Perino del Vaga, and the overall elegance of the work belies a Parmese influence through the work of Parmigianino and Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli.

The style and handling of the painting can be compared closely to a number of works from this period of the artist's production: The Adoration of the Magi, now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin and The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, now in the Gemäldegalerie, Wiesbaden, both dated by Fortunati Pietrantonio circa 1548 -50 (see V. Fortunati Pietrantonio, Pittura Bolognese del '500, Bologna 1986, vol. I, reproduced pp. 357 & 358); and The Dispute of Saint Catherine, in Santa Maria del Baraccano, Bologna, signed and dated 1551 (op. cit., reproduced p. 362).

We are grateful to Mr. Everett Fahy for proposing a tentative attribution to Prospero Fontana, on the basis of a colour transparency, and for suggesting that it appears to be an 'unusually good early work' by the artist (written communication, 3 May 2004).