HARLEQUIN ON THE MOON: COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE AND THE VISUAL ARTS. by Lawner, Lynne - 1998

New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998. 208 pp, 4to (11 1/4" H). Profusely illustrated in colour and b&w. "Commedia dell'arte is the first modern theater - inspiration to Shakespeare, Moliere, Goldoni, Mozart, and Balanchine and forerunner of the modern stage comedy. Since its invention as a popular entertainment in Renaissance Italy, commedia, with its stock characters, its absurd and witty plots, and its utterly charming personalities, has captivated audiences high and low, from the street fairs where Punch and Judy reigned to the exquisitely refined court of the Sun King. This book traces the history of commedia from its beginnings through many transformations to its rediscovery in the experimental theater of today. The depictions of commedia in the visual arts has a rich history. From Tiepolo and Watteau to Beardsley, Picasso, Hockney, and other modern masters, painters have found great resonance and meaning in the clowns and lovers of commedia. Here the visual and dramatic arts meet, giving birth to styles of art and performance at once clever, hilarious, poignant, tragic, and eternal. Lynne Lawner traces all these threads, unearthing rare texts of commedia plays, discovering myriad version of the ever-fascinating Harlequin, Pierrot, Columbine, and Pulcinella, relating the gossip of courts and theaters, and revealing the ways in which these figures and their classic stories - the sly servant, the foolish soldier, the clever maid, the quack doctor - have arisen again and again in art." Light waviness to edges of text block. Dust jacket has very light wrinkling at top/bottom of spine and flap-folds. . Hard Cover. Very Good+/Very Good+.