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Some Pictorial Aspects of Early Mountebank Stages
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
The commedia dell'arte had no theatre of its own. When the commedia took form in the second half of the sixteenth century, the itinerant actors found themselves in the midst of intense theatrical activity, and readily appropriated available stages as a background for their buffoonery. In public squares, at fairs, festivals, and other gathering places, mountebanks attracted crowds to their platforms by songs interspersed with dialogue, trickery, and acrobatic stunts. In palatial halls of wealthy dukes, guests assembled to witness spectacular shows with expensive settings and intricate mechanical devices. With these opportunities before them, the comedians soon began to appear with the charlatans, and to come under the patronage of influential dukes. The players were invited to participate at wedding festivities, triumphal entries, sumptuous banquets, in the courts of kings, and in the splendor of royal palaces. Again the same troupe might also be found on a crude platform in the Square of San Marco, at a fiesta in Florence, or along a travelled roadside. The comic Arlecchino, dressed in patchwork, the pedantic Dottore, with his academic gown, the braggart Capitano, with his long rapier, and the foolish old Pantalone, with his long flowing gown, performed for king and artisan in London, Paris, Madrid, Brussels, or Ferrara.
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1946
References
1 A bibliography, including original texts, modern surveys, detailed studies of type characters and players outside Italy, and sixteenth-, seventeenth-, and eighteenth-century works with important chapters on Italian comedy, is given in Allardyce Nicoll's Masks Mimes and Miracles (London, 1931), p. 216.
2 Documentary evidence relating to the scenarii is included in Nicoll, op. cit.; Winifred Smith, The Commedia dell'Arte: A Study in Popular Italian Comedy (New York, 1912); Constant Mic, La Commedia dell'arte (Paris, 1927); and Kathleen M. Lea, Italian Popular Comedy (Oxford, 1934), 2 vols.
3 Studies including iconographical material on staging are limited in choice, arrangement, and interpretation of the illustrations. Lea, op. cit., is interested in sources and in literary aspects of Italian comedy. Mic, op. cit., and Nicoll, op. cit., have treated the subject theatrically with a selected number of illustrations. Neither of these, however, professes to be exhaustive. S. W. Holsboer, L'Histoire de la mise en scène dans le théâtre français de 1600 à 1657 (Paris, 1933), has included discussions on French staging with selected prints, but the material is limited to the period indicated in the title. Luigi Rasi, I Comici italiani (Florence, 1897-1905), 3 vols., has a mine of theatrical information with illustrations related to the theatre, but the alphabetical arrangement precludes an attempt at an analytical study of staging as a whole. Two French writers have attempted to relate the pictorial material to the theatre, but the scholarship is, in many cases, quite doubtful. The illustrations in Lucien Dubech's Histoire général illustrée du Théâtre (Paris, 1933), 5 vols., are interesting, but the text is to be regarded cautiously. Similarly, Pierre Louis Duchartres's La Comédie italienne (Paris, 1924) lacks exact scholarship in identification and interpretation of many prints.
4 Figure 1. Engraving, 1610, Rome, “Le Mois de Janvier” from Les Mois, by Jacques Callot. Copied from Adrien Collaert, and by him from de Momper. Catalogued in Eduard Meaume, Recherches sur la vie et les ouvrages de Jacques Callot (Paris, 1860), No. 723.
5 Etching, 1568, in the Recueil de plusieurs fragments des premières Comédies Italiennes qui ont esté représentées en France sous le règnede Henry III. Recueil dit de Fossard conservé au musée national de Stockholm, présenté par Agne Beijer (Paris, 1928), p. 25. This collection will be referred to as the Recueil Fossard.
6 Drawing, c. 1635, by Rembrandt. Collection Frederich August II, Dresden; drawing, c. 1635, by Rembrandt. Kupferstichkabinet, Berlin. The artist has treated two different views of the same stage.
7 Flemish painting, c. 1665, “Theatrical Scene on a Market-Place,” by Adam Frans van der Meulen. Liechtenstein Gallery, Vienna.
8 The Cologne Laurentius stage with a simultaneous setting is on a platform supported by beams resting on barrels. Designed by Broelmann (1581). Stadtmuseum, Cologne.
9 Dutch painting, 1657, “Les Charlatans italiens,” by Karel Dujardin. Collection Louis XVI. Louvre, Paris.
10 Fig. 4. Callot, “Razullo, Cucurucu” in Balli di Sfessania (Nancy, 1621). (Meaume, 659.)
11 Figure 5. Painting, seventeenth century, Venice, “Tréteau des Comédiens sur la Place Saint-Marc, à Venise.” Collection Protopopoff, Leningrad.
12 Feather design, 1618, Milan, by Dionysus Minaggio. McGill University Library, Montreal.
13 In a seventeenth-century painting, “A Merry-Making and Horse Fair,” by Philips Wouwerman, a ladder is at the side of the stage. In Callot's engravings of “La grande Foire de Florence” the ladder is at the back of the stage. First engraving, 1620, Florence (Meaume, 624); second engraving, 1622, Nancy (Meaume, 625).
14 Painting, seventeenth century, “La Foire,” by Pieter Wouwerman.
15 Figure 3. Painting, sixteenth century, “La Kermesse.” Shop of Pieter Brügel, the elder. Collection Duc de Croy-Dülmen, Dülmen, Germany. This picture has been attibuted to Pieter Brügel, the elder, Pieter Brügel, the younger, and to the shop of the former. An entry in the catalogue (1879) of the Musée Calvet, Avignon, refers to a “Kermesse flamande ou foire de village,” attributed to Pieter Brügel, the elder. No illustration of this picture appears in the catalogue, nor in any study of the artist's works. In this study, however, “La Kermesse” will be referred to as the work of Pieter Brügel, the elder. Among the many versions of this important composition is “St. Martin's Fair” by Pieter Balten (see footnote No. 43). Figure 3 reproduced by courtesy of the Frick Art Reference Library.
16 Copper-plate, seventeenth century (?), Anonymous.
17 Engraving, 1627, Nancy, “La Carrière ou la rue Neuve de Nancy,” by Jacques Callot. (Meaume, 621).
18 Woodcuts, 1601, Lyon, in the Compositions de Rhétorique de M. Don Arlequin. Published by Duchartre and Van Buggenhoudt (Paris, 1928), plates xlv, xlix, l, liii, v, lviii, lix. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
19 Curtio Gonzaga, Gli Inganni (Venice, 1592), i, ii, 15; ii, ii, 26v; iv, iii, 52; v, iii, 71.
20 Engraving, 1581, by Julius Golcius or Goltzius, in Jean Jacques Boissard's Habitus variorum orbis gentium (1581). British Museum.
21 Painting, eighteenth century, by Gabriele Bella. Pinacoteca Querini, Venice.
22 Engraving, c. 1573, Venice, by Ludovico Ziletti. Archives Internationale de la Danse, Paris.
23 Engraving, 1610, Venice, by Giacomo Franco. Collection Rondel, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Paris.
24 Water color, 1600-50, Anonymous. Stattliche Bibliothek, Bamberg.
25 Figure 2. Painting on wood, 1550-1600, Anonymous. Collection M. W. Meyer, London.
26 Engraving, 1540-80, by Hans Liefrinck, in the Recueil Fossard, pl. xliv.
27 Engraving, c. 1550, by Jean de Gourmont.
28 Painting, 1550-1600, Anonymous. Musée Carnavalet, Paris.
29 Callot, op. cit. (Meaume, 641).
30 Woodcut, c. 1600-50, Anonymous. Gabinetto della Stampe, Castello, Milan.
31 Painting, seventeenth century (?), Anonymous.
32 Painting, seventeenth century, “Encampment at a River,” by Philips Wouwerman. State Picture Gallery, Dresden.
33 Figure 6. Engraving from a pamphlet with the title: “Musick A-la-Mode: or The Young Maids Delight; containing Five Excellent New Songs, Sung at the Drolls in Bartholomew Fair.” London, printed in the year 1691. Included in an extra-illustrated edition of Henry Morley's Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair (London, 1859), ii, 94. Reproduced by courtesy of Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum.
34 Painting on wood, 1572, by Paul or Frans Pourbus. Bayeux Museum.
35 In accordance with Renaissance practice, the back-shutter (a flat frame extending across the back of the scene) was usually painted to continue the perspective lines indicated by the rows of houses at each side of the stage. By this means, an illusion of depth was established with a street, wood, or garden appearing to recede into the distance. Specific details for this practice are given in Nicola Sabbattini, Pratica di Fabricar Scene e Machine ne' Teatri (Ravenna, 1638), i, ch. 15.
36 Engraving, 1619-20. Stage of Tabarin in La Place Dauphine, Paris. Attributed to Abraham Bosse. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; engraving, 1623, Title-page to Inventaire Vniversel des Oevvres de Tabarin (Paris, 1623). Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
37 See footnote No. 9.
38 Drawing, 1685 or 1695, by Cornelis Dusart, in Monumenta Scenica (Vienna, 1925-30), v, pl. 15.
39 See footnote No. 6. In Dusart's drawing (footnote No. 38) a tilted umbrella extends above the general level of a large crowd, while two quacks, apparently standing on a low bench, hold articles for sale in their hands.
40 Drawing, early seventeenth century, by Ivan van Goyen, in Monumenta Scenica, v, pl. 13.
41 Engravings, sixteenth century, “La Kermesse d'Hoboken,” and “La Kermesse de la Saint-Georges,” by Pieter Brügel, the elder.
42 Engraving, seventeenth century (?), Anonymous. Archives Internationale de la Danse, Paris.
43 Flemish painting, sixteenth century, “St. Martin's Fair,” by Pieter Balten. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
44 Painting, seventeenth century, attributed to Gerrit Berckheyde.
45 Flemish painting, 1680, “Piazza Navona, Rome,” by Antoon Goubau. Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp. Painting, 1650-1700, Venice, Anonymous.
46 Painting, 1610, “Flemish Fair,” by David Vinckeboons. Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp.
47 Engraving, late seventeenth century, by Joseph Chauvel de Cantepie. An enclosure with apparently a crude design appears in Philips Wouwerman's painting, “A Horse Fair.” Buckingham Palace.
48 Engraving, 1600-50, Naples, by Melchoir Küsel. Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Paris.
49 Engraving in Paul Scarron's Scarron's Comical Romance: or, a facetious history of a company of strowling stage-players … turn'd into English (London, 1676). British Museum.
50 Flemish painting, 1676, “The Village Fair,” by Pieter Bout. Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts, Brussels.
51 “House” was the term used by Sebastiano Serlio in Il Primo [Secondo] Libro de Architettura (Paris, 1545) to describe a set-piece made by joining two flat frames at right angles. Both faces of the angle (the one parallel to the audience is the front face, while the one following the perspective line is the perspective face) were covered with canvas or like material, and painted to represent the architectural features desired. “Houses” built on this principle were referred to by other architects as “Serlian houses.” Houses sketched on the curtains of mountebank stages frequently resembled the set-pieces mentioned by Serlio.
52 See footnote No. 7.
53 Although the Terentian stage consisted in a formal façade with curtained archways near the rear of an open stage, and with the actor's name inscribed at the top of each archway to identify the particular place, the function of scenery and the principle of staging were similar to practices on the curtained mountebank stages. Additional examples of platform stages with scenic methods similar to the Terentian and mountebank stages appear in 44 woodcuts in Johann Rasser's Christlich Spiel von Kinderzucht (Ensisheim, 1574). Published in Dr. Fritz Richard Lachmann, “Die ‘Studentes’ des Christophorus Stymmelius und ihre Bühne,” in Theater geschichtliche Forschungen (Leipzig, 1926), No. 34. Further comparison may be made with the curtained façade on the platform stage in the market place at Löwen for Urteils Salomos (1594), by W. Boonen. Stadtmuseum, Löwen. Attention should also be given to the simultaneous stage as represented in the miniature in La Mystère de la Passion de Valenciennes (1547), with different houses or localities arranged in a row at the back of an open area or platea, with each house independent of the others and separated from them by physical space.
54 Dutch painting, seventeenth century, Anonymous.
55 Painting, late seventeenth century, by Job Berckheyde.
56 Figure 7. Drawing, c. 1719, “La Baraque de l'Empirique,” by Pieter van Angillis. British Museum; painting, ibid., Collection Mme. Delattre.
57 Drawing, seventeenth century, by Jakob van der Ulft, in Monumenta, Scenica, v, pl. 13.
58 Drawing, 1672, by Hendrik Verschuring, in Monumenta Scenica, v, pl. 16.
59 Engraving, seventeenth century, “Théâtre et Boutique de l'Orviétan,” Anonymous. Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
60 Figure 8. Engraving, c. 1620, “Théâtre de Gille le Niais,” Anonymous. Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
61 See footnote Nos. 35, 51.
62 A painting of an outdoor theatre in the arena at Verona by Marco Marcola (1772, Art Institute, Chicago) affords an excellent example. Immediately behind a curved proscenium flanked by pillars is a gathered valance suggesting the manteau d'Arlequin of the indoor theatres. The scenery consists of four flat wings set apparently on an angle, and painted to suggest architectural structures. Above each set of wings is a plain, flat border, and at the back is a shutter pictorially painted with trees, etc. A number of commedia type characters appear on the stage. Spectators are seated in boxes at either side the stage; and on the floor and steps of the arena. Cords are stretched from the top of the proscenium to the top of the arena to sustain an awning.
63 See footnote Nos. 7, 12, 23, 24, 36, 50, 54, 59. As the discussion of properties will include illustrations already referred to, footnote identification when possible will be omitted.
64 See footnote No. 16.
65 See footnote No. 29.
66 See footnote Nos. 36, 46, 55, 58.
67 See footnote No. 5.
68 See footnote Nos. 23, 24, 29, 31, 34.
69 See footnote Nos. 5, 24, 36.
70 See footnote Nos. 36, 54.
71 See footnote Nos. 22, 46, 58.
72 See footnote No. 23.
73 See footnote No. 24.
74 See footnote No. 29.
75 See footnote No. 22.
76 See footnote Nos. 9, 31, 32.
77 See footnote No. 5.
78 The pictures referred to are mentioned in the author's article, “Some Pictorial Aspects of Early Commedia dell'Arte Acting,” Studies in Philology (January, 1942), xxxix, 47-64.