early life and training antonio fontanesi, an italian painter, was born on february 23, 1818, in reggio emilia, emilia-romagna. he trained with the landscape painters prospero minghetti and vincenzo carnevali. fontanesi's early work involved creating theatre sets (1841-1846) and painting landscapes. career in europe and japan fontanesi participated in various artistic exhibitions, showcasing his works in lyon, turin, milan, florence, genoa, and the triennial exhibition of fine art in bologna. in 1876, he was contracted by the meiji government to introduce european oil painting techniques to j…