The equestrian battle is a theme that Fontana was always interested in. The explosive energy of the figures, riders and horses and their armour, which fills the room, is also conveyed in Fontana's ceramics. He modelled the warriors directly from the clay mass, without making them clearly representational figures, but seeming to dissolve into the space. On the one hand, the ceramics can be seen as model sketches in preparation for a figurative scene, but on the other, one has the impression that an all-encompassing dynamic leads to the dissolution of the form in space. The multi-coloured glaze echoes the abstract-gestural painting of the Informel.
Coming into being and passing away are both contained in the ceramic "Battaglia", as well as in a religious motif such as the "Crocifisso", the crucifix. Fontana did not treat the fear of death as a negative aspect of human existence. He worked it into pictorial, symbolic figurations that are both beautiful and timeless in a decorative sense. In their extreme sensuality and dynamism, they recall the Baroque art that fascinated Fontana. Fontana sought to renew the dynamism of the Baroque pictorial space in the modern age and with a view to the future.
Fontana repeatedly used religious themes in his figurative ceramics, such as the Stations of the Cross in two series and the designs for a door in Milan Cathedral. The portrait of Teresita is also decoratively beautiful, the decoration accentuating the material. "I am a sculptor, not a ceramist," Fontana insisted. "I have never thrown a plate on the wheel or painted a vase.
