Domenico De Bernardi (1892 – 1963) - Paesaggio

Domenico De Bernardi, Landscape, pastels on cardboard, 550x450 mm (700x590 with frame), signed Dom De Bernardi 30 (1930). Excellent condition.

Domenico De Bernardi (Besozzo, 1892–1963) after enrolling in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Pavia, abandons his studies to devote himself to painting. He decides, in fact, to study at the studio of landscape painter Ludovico Cavalleri (1867–1942), from whom he learns the Lombard naturalist approach.
Between the 1920s and 1930s (the dating of the work at auction), naturalism and the impressionism of the early works began to change. They transform, in fact, into a language that is heavily influenced by the Return to Order climate. Consequently, rational lines, balanced, static, and geometric forms pervade Domenico De Bernardi's landscapes, which align with contemporary painting.
I forgo that initial lyricism to yield to the masses and to the volumes that recall the Italian tradition of the Trecento and the Quattrocento. The color, which was intimate, sfumato and delicate as it was, becomes clear, defined, like the drawing.
This change was also aided by his trip to Libya in the 1930s, which allowed him to brighten his palette and introduce new viewpoints, far from his birthplace.
In the 1930s he participated in many Fascist syndicates across Italy and in the 1939 Bergamo Prize, where he exhibited Varesotto and Strada Lombarda. In the postwar period, however, his language partly returns to the lyricism of his early days, abandoning that proud interlock of volumes and of clear, precise color schemes, attentive to the rational spatiality of the Return to Order.