attributed to Nicolas Bollery: The Actors (1595-1605)

(John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Saratosa, USA)

A painting which is attributed to the French artist Nicolas Bollery (1560-1630). This painting shows a scene from the Commedia dell’Arte. The Commedia dell’Arte is a type of theater which originates from Italy and is characterized by masked "types". These masked types are exaggerated "real characters", each with their distinctive clothes and masks (the harlequin and pierrot are an example of these characters). Here, the character 'Pantalone' is shown - the man in the middle. In the Commedia dell’Arte Pantalone is an older, wealthy and greedy man and a status at the top of the social order. Two women keep Pantalone busy: the woman in green dress pretends to pretends to read the palm of Panatalo while she is busy stealing his money pouch. The woman in the yellow dress is distracting Panalone by playing with his beard. The old procuress who is carrying a child identifies the two younger women as prostitutes. All the three women are wearing a so-called ' berns' hat, made from circles of thin wood, wrapped in yards of narrow cloth strips. Painting from 1595-1605.