Portrait of Carlo Berta

Carlo Berta (1896-1936), was born in Macerata. His father Giuseppe, inspector of State Property and Finance, is from Piedmont and soon returns with his family to Casale Monferrato. Orphaned very young by both parents, he still managed to graduate in Jurisprudence in Pavia and was appointed Chancellor of the Court in Milan. He took part in the Alpini in the First World War, in which his brother Luigi died. In the will he appoints the Associazione Milanese della Fanciullezza Abbandonata (Milanese Association of Abandoned Childhood) as the universal heir, with a legacy of 52,000 lire in favor of the Ospedale Maggiore. The commission of the portrait is entrusted to Roberto Aloi, a friend of Leonardo Dudreville, who gives in this work a significant example of his objective realism: in a rather severe composition, the figure of the benefactor, in profile, is represented with plasticity; the setting and details are reduced to a minimum (a flat surface in the foreground, two books, a sheet of paper); the chromatic choices are relevant: sober tones, skillful use of nuance above all in the background, and wise chiaroscuro effects.