Harlequin
The graphic quality of the Harlequin's lanky frame, exaggerated movements and colourful chequered costume, fascinates artists. Sometimes depicted as a musician, sometimes as a dreamer or enjoying the company of the opposite sex, the Harlequin evokes nimbleness, agility, treachery and laughter.
His black cocked hat and the diamond-shaped pattern on his jacket and trousers make him immediately recognisable to theatre and carnival goers alike. Harlequin, together with Pierrot and Columbine, is an essential character of the Commedia dell'Arte. A comic valet, he is gullible, sensitive and lazy. He is likely to invent all sorts of schemes. A descendant of the slave buffoons of ancient theatre, his role was vital in popular Italian theatre of the 17th and 18th centuries where tomfoolery and musical interludes accompanied Harlequin's improvised dialogues. Both Molière and Marivaux drew inspiration from the Commedia dell'Arte, but it was Carlo Goldoni who breathed new life into this genre, by making his actors stick to a written manuscript and by gradually abandoning the masks and slapstick humour.
