Italian painter, part of a family of painters, draughtsmen and printmakers. Fontana training was based on the works of  Titian and Veronese,  and his artistic output in Austria, which is recorded from 1562, included major work on altarpieces, with countless sketches and engravings. With the assistance of his brother, Giulio Fontana, he painted frescoes in the chapel of Schloß Kaiser-Ebersdorf in Vienna in 1562.  In 1575 he was appointed court painter to Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria. He worked on frescoes for the oratory of the Hofkirche, the Spheristerion in 1573, the Silberne Kapelle which had been built by Giulio Fontana and where he painted 14 scenes of the Passion in 1576 and lastly decorated a castle chamber in 1578. Between 1583 and 1584 he set to work on the ceiling of the dining-hall of Schloss Ambras, depicting Allegories of the Zodiac, the Elements and the Planets.