Gian Fritello
About the painting
Object Type
Mural painting in a grand house was a sure indicator of wealth and status. Noble or wealthy families commissioned artists, often from France, The Netherlands or Italy, to decorate their homes with mythological, patriotic, allegorical or fantasy scenes, demonstrating the owner's learning, allegiance and sophisticated taste. These are a part of a series of 16 panels commissioned by Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, in 1742 to decorate the 'Scaramouche Parlour' in his house, Belvedere, in Kent.
Subjects Depicted
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The panels show scenes from the Commedia dell'Arte, a type of theatre performed by Italian troupes of travelling actors. The Commedia had a large number of stock characters: the actors would improvise around a general scenario. They were often masked, and the performances involved acrobatics, music and dancing. Characters included the Capitano, a swaggering, blustering coward who invariably runs from any threat of danger, Arlecchino (who became the Harlequin of pantomime), Pulcinella (who inspired the English Punch), Pedrolino (later Pierrot) and Colombine (a serving maid who later appears in amorous association with Harlequin or Pierrot). Most depictions of the Commedia characters are derived from a famous series of prints of Commedia-like performers, the Bali di Sfessania by the French artist Jacques Callot (1592-1635).
People
Andien de Clermont (active 1716-1783) was a French artist who arrived in Britain in 1716. He was the most avant-garde and highly-inventive decorative artist working here in the Rococo period.
