Carlo Eduardo Johan Dalgas was a Danish animal painter. Carlo Dalgas was the brother of Enrico Dalgas.
Both the artist's parents, Jean Antoine Dalgas (born 1788 died 1835 ), merchant and Danish consul in Livorno and Johanne Thomine born de Stibolt (born 1792 died 1871), were Danish born, but lived in Italy, where the son was born in Naples.
He was brought up in Copenhagen and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1837. After exhibiting in 1843, he won the Neuhausen cash prize in 1847, sold a flock of sheep to the Royal Collection of Paintings in 1848, and had received the academy's travel allowance when the War of 1848 called him in as a volunteer.
He took part in all three campaigns and was as a first lieutenant in the last battle of the war at Mølskov, where he was badly wounded on 31 December 1850.
Dalgas wanted to be an animal painter and had already done serious studies partly in the Royal Collection of Paintings, where he was influenced by the Dutch animal painters.