Fontana, the name of many Italian painters of the 16th and 17th centuries, prominent among whom was Prospero (1512-97), the instructor of the Carracci. He was one of the most prolific painters of the Bolognese school, but was hasty and reckless in his work. His masterpiece is the "Adoration of the Magi" in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Bologna, which has been described as approaching the style of Paul Veronese. His daughter Lavinia (1552-1614) attained almost the excellence of Guido in some of her portraits.-Famous among the architects of the Fontana family was Domenico (1543-1607), who finished the cupola of the basilica of St. Peter, placed the stupendous obelisk which had been brought from Egypt in the reign of Caligula on the piazza of St. Peter (1586), despite great difficulties, and was ennobled and magnificently rewarded by the pope. He also designed the library of the Vatican and completed the pontifical palace of Monte Cavallo. Clement VIII. having disgraced him on account of a false charge of his having acquired his fortune dishonestly, he spent the latter part of his life in Naples.-Another eminent architect, Carlo (1634-1714), was employed in Rome under seven successive popes.

Among his best known works are the Cibo and Ginetti chapels and the Grimani and Bolognetti palaces, the latter since known as the palazzo Torlonia.