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Examples
of painting style choices, see "Quality
is in the Details" page for more information:
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PP:
Portrait style painting |
B:
solid black |
CW-RB:
Traditional color wash in reddish brown |
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Arlequin
Traditional
#C22
Price:
$235 - PP: Portrait Style Painting in brown (not pictured)
$130 - B: Black (not pictured)
$130 - CW-RB: Color Wash in reddish brown (pictured)
Size:
Best fit, large and average faces.
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This
Arlequin (French) or Arlecchino (Italian) mask is a more traditional
design based on Commedia masks of the 17th century. The small
round eye holes are traditional and give the character a darting
frantic gaze. The red wart is also traditional and is symbolic
of Devil horns. The mask is textured to look like a leather
Commedia mask that was formed by pounding the leather with
a cow horn over a wooden matrix (mask mold.) |
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Arlecchino
Troublemaker
#C10
Price:
$255 - PP: Portrait Style Painting in brown (pictured left
and middle)
$150 - B: Black (pictured right)
$150 - CW-RB: Color Wash in reddish brown (not pictured)
Size:
Best fit, large and average faces.
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Arlecchino
is a zanni (servant character & clown) from Bergamo. A
fool who is also capable of flashes of shrewd wit. Arlecchino
(A.K.A Harlequin or Arlequin) is a troublemaker who manages
to get himself and everyone around him into all kinds of predicaments.
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Columbina
#C11
Price:
$255 - PP: Portrait Style Painting in tan
$150 - B: Black (not pictured)
$150 - CW-RB: Color Wash in reddish brown (not pictured)
Size:
Best fit, average and small faces.
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Columbina
is the smartest character in Commedia. She is witty, nimble
and flirtatious. Shakespeare’s comedic heroines owe
a debt of inspiration to Columbina. She often adopts disguises
to achieve her ends appearing as a doctor, lawyer, or even
as someone's reflection in a mirror. Columbina and Arlecchino
are lovers. Their relationship is highlighted in these masks
with matching features.
"...by her keen and active wit was able to hold her
own in every situation and emerge with ease and dignity
from the most involved intrigues." -The Italian Comedy
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Daffy
Lover
#C12-L
Price:
$235 - PP: Portrait Style Painting in tan
$130 - B: Black (not pictured)
$130 - CW-RB: Color Wash in reddish brown (not pictured)
Size:
Best fit, average and large faces.
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The
Daffy Lover: Sweet, romantic & hopeless. This well meaning
lover is just as likely to accidentally trip his lady love
as he is to sweep her off her feet. But bravado and boundless
optimism always wins in the end.
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Daffy
Zanni
#C12-Z
Price:
$215 - PP: Portrait Style Painting in brown
Size:
Best fit, average and large faces.
A
variation on the Daffy mask. Either mask can be used as
a Lover or Zanni (servant) but traditionally Zannis had
a deeper tan from working outside.
Lovers were pale from spending all day indoors, reading
poetry and sighing by candlelight.
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Daffy
Smeraldina
#C12-S
Price:
$245 - PP: Portrait Style Painting in tan with makeup
Size:
Best fit, average and large faces.
Another
variation on the Daffy mask. Smeraldina is a zanni. She
is a vain and playful coquette.
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Inamorata
#C13
Price:
$170 - PP: Portrait Style Painting in tan
$120
- B: Black (not pictured)
Size:
Best fit, average and small faces.
The
Ingénue. Sweet and youthful Lover.
Designed as a companion mask to the Daffy Lover.
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Traditionally
the Lover characters did not wear masks. The beautiful faces
of the young men and women playing the Lovers were part of
the appeal for the audience. Modern productions often add
masks for the lover roles. It enhances the stylized quality
of a masked performance. It also allows actors to play against
type. This Inamorata mask is an excellent example. One of
the most effective Inamoratas to wear this mask was a 300lb
man. When he performed the role he had all the qualities you
want in the young ingénue. He floated on air. His voice
was like bird song and his gestures and movements were light
and graceful. With this mask on and his brilliant physical
performance he was every inch the lovely young girl. |
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The
Soubrette
#C14
Price:
$235 - PP: Portrait Style Painting in tan
$130 - B: Black (not pictured)
$130 - CW-RB: Color Wash in reddish brown (not pictured)
Size:
Best fit, average and small faces. Will not fit a large
nose.
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Variations:
Without makeup, she makes a great Beatrice disguising
herself as a man in "Servant of Two Masters".
With more garish makeup she makes a great evil stepsister
or a Smeraldina. Send a note if you want one of these variations.
The
Soubrette, beautiful and spirited. This mask was originally
made to be Zerbinette in "Scapin," with Dashing
Capitano as her lover Leander (photo above.) She was raised
by gypsies to be free spirited, passionate and strong.
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Sylvia
#C15
Price:
$245 - PP: Portrait Style Painting in brown
$150 - B: Black (not pictured)
$150 - CW-RB: Color Wash in reddish brown (pictured right)
Size:
Best fit, small and average faces.
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Sylvia
is a zanni. As loyal as a puppy. The perfect sidekick.
Can be blamed for all your misdeeds and comes bouncing
back for more.
The
Sylvia mask was created to play the role of Sylvester
in Scapin. Scapin’s hapless sidekick who often gets
kicked in the side. This mask can play as a man or a woman
but it fits a smaller face.
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Zanni
#C16
Price:
$260 - PP-T: Portrait Style Painting in tan (top right)
$260 - PP-B: Portrait Style Painting in brown (bottom right)
$155 - B: Black (top left)
$155 - CW-RB: Color Wash in reddish brown (not pictured)
Size:
Best fit, large and average faces.
One
look in his lopsided eyes will tell you that he aint quite
right. The Zanni is the comic stereotype of a character
from an inbred gene pool, “dumber than a sack of hammers,
crazy as a loon.”
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ABOUT
ZANNI: Zanni, pronounced “Zah-knee”
in Italian Commedia and “Zay-nee” like the word
zany, in French Commedia. Zanni is short for the name Giovanni.
It was a social slur, a generic title used by a rich person
to name a homeless wretch they would hire for an odd job.
Some servant characters like Columbina usually served a master
and lived in the master’s house. Other characters were
day laborers hoping to be hired for a few coins. The Zanni
is one of these characters.
All
the servant characters in Commedia are called Zanni. Zanni
is synonymous for both servant and clown. But there is one
specific mask that has become known as the “Zanni.”
It can be recognized by its ridiculously long nose. This
mask became a popular costume to wear for the Venetian Carnevale
festival. The Zanni mask can be found in Venetian mask shops
decorated with gold leaf and expensive lace and crystals.
A funny transformation for a mask that was the lowest of
the lowly servant characters in Commedia.
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