Beyond the Masks

by Mona Edulesco

Original - Sold

Price

Not Specified

Dimensions

24.000 x 18.000 x 2.000 cm.

Title

Beyond the Masks

Artist

Mona Edulesco

Medium

Painting - Oil On Canvas

Description

ORIGINAL PALETTE KNIFE OIL PAINTING ON CANVAS/ 18x24 cm / 7 x 9,4 inches / 2016
Inspired by Harlequin, Pierrot and Zanni, 3 characters of Italian Commedia dell'arte.

Harlequin is the best-known of the zanni or comic servant characters from the Italian Commedia dell'arte. The Harlequin is characterized by his chequered costume. His role is that of a light-hearted, nimble and astute servant, often acting to thwart the plans of his master, and pursuing his own love interest, Colombina, with wit and resourcefulness, often competing with the sterner and melancholic Pierrot. He later develops into a prototype of the romantic hero. Harlequin inherits his physical agility and his trickster qualities, as well as his name, from a mischievous "devil" character in medieval passion plays. It originates with an Old French term herlequin, hellequin, first attested in the 11th century, by the chronicler Orderic Vitalis, who recounts a story of a monk who was pursued by a troop of demons when wandering on the coast of Normandy at night. These demons were led by a masked, club-wielding giant and they were known as familia harlequin.
The name Harlequin also appears as that of a devil, as Alichino, in Dante's Inferno (cantos 21 to 23).
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Pierrot is a stock character of pantomime and Commedia dell'Arte whose origins are in the late seventeenth-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Com�die-Italienne; the name is a hypocorism of Pierre (Peter), via the suffix -ot. His character in contemporary popular culture�in poetry, fiction, the visual arts, as well as works for the stage, screen, and concert hall�is that of the sad clown, 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 and wide white pantaloons. The defining characteristic of Pierrot is his na�vet�: he is seen as a fool, often the butt of pranks, yet nonetheless trusting.
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Zanni or Zani is a character type of Commedia dell'arte best known as an astute servant and trickster. The Zanni comes from the countryside. The Zanni is known to be a �dispossessed immigrant worker�. Throughout time, the Zanni grew to be a popular figure who was first seen in commedia as early as the fourteenth century. The English word zany derives from this persona.
Zanni is one of the oldest characters in Commedia dell'arte but over the course of time became subdivided into a number of similar characters with more specific traits.
Zanni mask is usually characterised by a long nose, not too dissimilar from the Medico della Peste. Also features bulging eyebrows and a low forehead.
(source: wikipedia)

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June 9th, 2016

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