Umberto II of Savoia. Torino, Italy, circa 1924.

Gelatin silver print -measures: 22.2 x 15 cm / 8.74 x 5.9 in.- mounted on a secondary support -measures: 30.5 x 26.4 cm / 12 x 10.39 in.-, where the photographer recorded the address of his studio “2o via Po. Torino”. The work of good artistic composition is signed by the artist on the same photograph in the upper right margin, while the person portrayed dedicated, signed and dated: “Lu Capitano Felice Lautaro. Umberto di Savoia 1929”.

It is the royal portrait of Umberto II of Savoia, crown prince, Lieutenant General of the Kingdom of Italy and last King of Italy. He poses standing before the large study chamber in his dress uniform and wearing all the decorations awarded. His full name was Umberto Nicola Tommaso Giovanni Maria di Savoia, he was born in Racconigi in 1904 and died in Geneva (Switzerland) in 1983. Son of King Vittorio Emanuele III, he witnessed the shocked time that Europe lived in those years, and particularly of Italy with the strengthening of fascism led by Benito Mussolini. Between 1925 and 1943, Italy was quasi-jure a Fascist dictatorship since, although the constitution remained formally in force and without alterations, it will be through the Great Fascist Council that Mussolini firmly took control of the government from 1928. Towards the end of the Second World War, in 1943 the Duce was imprisoned but soon released by Adolf Hitler's German commandos, thus conforming the Southern Kingdom. Vittorio Emanuele called a public referendum to decide whether the government should continue with the monarchy or opt for the republic, abdicating and then leaving the command to his son Umberto. That monarchy, the last in Italy, is known as the "kingdom of May", since it lasted from May 9, 1946 to June 10, after the republic was elected.

This photographic portrait shows Umberto II, being a young heir; he dedicated it and signed the year he visited our country, starring in a political and social event of enormous public impact.

The photographer Gian Carlo Dall´Armi (1881-1928), was active in the city of Turin since the beginning of the 20th century, participating with fervor in initiatives in the field of local photography, obtaining a good reputation for his works, so much so that in 1909 the magazine "Artistic Photography" published two of his works. Dall'Armi's work stands out for the heterogeneity of its subjects: from the academic portrait to the reproduction of art and architecture, passing through the report, such as the series of documentary images on the Italian Projectile Factory, made in 1920. No it is a coincidence that the critic Italo Mario Angeloni, referring to the photographs presented by Dall'Armi at the First International Exhibition of Optics and Cinematography in 1923, defines them as “a very varied material”. The activity of the Dall'Armi studio continued until 1951, under the direction of his wife Giovanna Andrate.

Portraying the heir to the Kingdom of Italy indicates the great artistic and social level reached by Gian Carlo Dall'Armi's studio around the 1920s.

S.O.IV-SIM