Rome
Commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte is a theatrical form characterized by improvised dialogue and a cast of colorful stock characters that emerged in northern Italy in the fifteenth century and rapidly gained popularity throughout Europe. The earliest known company formed in Padua in 1545, and by the turn of the seventeenth century troupes such as the Gelosi, Confidenti, and Fedeli enjoyed international celebrity. Some troupes were favored at foreign courts, especially in France, where images from the commedia became a favorite theme of artists such as Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Pater (1695–1736) and Jean Antoine Watteau (1684–1721).
In its golden age, plays of the commedia dell'arte (literally, "comedy of professional artists") were usually performed in open air by itinerant troupes of players, as seen in Pater's The Fair at Bezons, a character whose origin is contested. It is likely that he derived either from Alichino, a demon from Dante's Inferno (XXI-XXIII), or from Hellequin, a character from French Passion plays, also a demon charged with driving damned souls into Hell. Arlecchino is characterized as a poor man, often from Bergamo, whose diamond-patterned costume suggests that he is wearing patchwork, a sign of his poverty. His mask is either speckled with warts or shaped like the face of a monkey, cat, or pig, and he often carries a batacchio, or slapstick. Though usually a brilliant acrobat, Arlecchino is gluttonous, illiterate, and gullible. His paramour is Columbina or Arlecchina, a clever and coquettish maidservant usually in the service of the innamorata. Bustelli portrayed the patchwork-clad couple in figurines that capture their flamboyance in suspended animation.
The versatile character Brighella is sometimes vindictive, deceitful, and violent, at other times easily duped and the brunt of jokes. The character gave rise to many regional and international variants, including Figaro, Scapino, and Mezzetino (Mezzetin). He is often portrayed as a musician, most sympathetically in a canvas by Watteau. The two characters may be found in Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo's A Dance in the Country for a resoundingly successful series of expressive portraits.
Meagher, Jennifer. "Commedia dell'arte ". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.