Original artwork description:

Harlequin and Columbine
Oil on canvas painting by prominent Russian–American artist Anatol Woolf
28"x22"
Frame is included

Harlequin, Italian: Arlecchino [arlekˈkiːno], French: Arlequin [aʁləkɛ̃], is the best-known of the zanni or comic servant characters from the Italian Commedia dell'arte.
The Harlequin is characterized by his chequered costume. His role is that of a light-hearted, nimble, and astute servant, often acting to thwart the plans of his master, and pursuing his own love interest, Columbina, with wit and resourcefulness, often competing with the sterner and melancholic Pierrot. He later develops into a prototype of the romantic hero. Harlequin inherits his physical agility and his trickster qualities, as well as his name, from a mischievous "devil" character in medieval passion plays.

Columbina (in Italian Colombina,[1] meaning "little dove"; in French and English Colombine) is a stock character in the Commedia dell'Arte.[2] She is Harlequin's mistress,[2] a comic servant playing the tricky slave type, and wife of Pierrot.

Materials used:

oil on canvas

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