Pierrot
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Pierrot is a stock character of pantomime and commedia dell'arte whose origins date back to the late 17th-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne. The
Paul Legrand as Pierrot, c. 1855. Photograph by Nadar.
Antoine Watteau: Italian Actors, c. 1719. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Antoine Watteau: Gilles (or Pierrot) and Four Other Characters of the Commedia dell'Arte, c. 1718. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Nicolas Lancret: Actors of the Comédie-Italienne, between 1716 and 1736. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Columbine (stock character)
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Columbine is a stock character in the commedia dell'arte. She is Harlequin's mistress, a comic servant playing the tricky slave type, and love interest of Pierrot. Rudlin and Crick use the Italian spe
Pierrot
…poetry, fiction, and the visual arts, as well as works for the stage, screen, and concert hall—is that of the sad clown, often pining for love of Columbine (who usually breaks his heart and leaves him for Harlequin). Performing unmasked, with a whitened face, he wears a loose white blouse with large buttons…
1862 depiction of a Columbine set in 1683
Harlequin dancing with Columbine
Pierrot, Columbine, and Harlequin (painting by Pierre-Antoine Quillard, c. 1733)
The cover of the newspaper Röpke Lapok by Richard Geiger featuring Pierrot and Columbine