Antonio Fontanesi's Artistic Resurrection Traced at Reggio Emilia Exhibition

A major exhibition at the Musei Civici di Reggio Emilia traces the posthumous rehabilitation of 19th-century painter Antonio Fontanesi (1818–1882), whose work was harshly criticized during his lifetime. Curated by Virginia Bertone, the show follows Fontanesi's 'artistic resurrection' that began at the 1901 Venice Biennale, where nearly sixty works were exhibited, restoring his reputation. Fontanesi's international influences (especially Corot), romantic landscapes, and emotional intensity were not understood by contemporaries. The exhibition includes works by artists who admired him: Pellizza da Volpedo, Angelo Morbelli, and critic Vittore Grubicy recognized him as a precursor to Divisionism. A section reveals dialogues with Carlo Carrà, Felice Casorati, and Arturo Tosi, who reinterpreted Fontanesi's landscape sense in the 1920s–30s. The finale features Alberto Burri's 'Sacco' (1953), linked through Francesco Arcangeli's theory of 'ultimi naturalisti' and 'tramandi' connecting Romantic painting to Informale. Arcangeli, following Roberto Longhi, identified a lineage from Fontanesi through Ennio Morlotti, Pompilio Mandelli, Sergio Romiti, to Burri, whose existential reading of nature echoes the Romantic naturalism of the Po Valley.