Commedia dell'Arte

コンメディア・デッラルテ / 16th–18th century / Style / Stage Design

Masks and fixed costumes let Italy's improvised comedy name each character at a glance. Harlequin's lozenges and Pulcinella's white belong to a system of visual signs that art, fashion and graphics have never stopped quoting.

Commedia dell'Arte — Callot, from Balli di Sfessania (CC0)
Callot, from Balli di Sfessania (CC0) · CC0
Commedia dell'Arte — Callot engraving, commedia characters (CC0)
Callot engraving, commedia characters (CC0) · CC0
Commedia dell'Arte — Zanni leather half-mask — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 · © Tom Banwell
Zanni leather half-mask — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 · CC BY-SA 2.0 · © Tom Banwell

At a glance

Visual cues

  • Leather half-masks
  • Harlequin's lozenge pattern
  • Type-defining costume
  • Exaggerated gesture

Best used for

  • Costume and character design that names each role at first glance
  • Festive theatre posters and packaging built on typed comic figures

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Dictionary entry

Type
Hand lettering that tilts with the gesture, at signpainter weight
Composition
Figures ranged across a shallow stage, eyes aligned at mask height
Material
Leather half-masks, lozenge cloth and white cotton assigned by role
Caution
Borrowing only the lozenges and the mask loses the rank and temperament the type was meant to signal, leaving a costume party photograph.
Further study
Jacques Callot's etchings / Watteau's Pierrot / quotations in Picasso and modern art

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