Editing Pierrot (section)

==Origins: 17th century==
[[Image:Antoine Watteau - The Italian Comedians - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|[[Antoine Watteau]]: ''Italian Actors'', {{circa|1719}}. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.]]
Pierrot is sometimes said to be a French variant of the sixteenth-century Italian [[Pedrolino]],<ref>Sand, Duchartre, and Oreglia see a close family resemblance between—if not an interchangeability of—both characters. Mic claims that an historical connection between Pedrolino and "the celebrated Pierrots of [Adolphe] Willette" is "absolutely evident" (p. 211). Nicoll writes that Pedrolino is the "Italian equivalent" of Pierrot (''World'', p. 88). As late as 1994, Rudlin (pp. 137-38) renames Pierrot "Pedrolino" in a translation of a scene from Nolant de Fatouville's ''Harlequin, Emperor of the Moon'' (1684): see Gherardi, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vDg0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA181 I, 179].</ref> but the two types have little but their names ("Little Pete") and social stations in common.<ref>There is no documentation from the 17th century that links the two figures. In fact, what documentation does exist links Pierrot, not with Pedrolino, but with [[Pulcinella]]. "Dominique" Biancolelli, Harlequin of the first Comédie-Italienne in which Pierrot appeared by name, noted that "The nature of the ''rôle'' is that of a Neapolitan Pulcinella a little altered. In point of fact, the Neapolitan scenarii, in place of Arlecchino and Scapino, admit two Pulcinellas, the one an intriguing rogue and the other a stupid fool. The latter is Pierot's {{sic}} ''rôle'': MS 13736, Bibliothèque de l'Opéra, Paris, I, 113; cited and tr. Nicoll, ''Masks'', p. 294.</ref> Both are comic servants, but Pedrolino, as a so-called "first" [[Zanni#Two types of Zanni|Zanni]], often acts with cunning and daring.<ref>

[[File:Pedrolino and the Doctor in 1621 woodcut.jpg|thumb|Pedrolino scuffles with [[il Dottore]], 1621.]]
In one of the few extant contemporary illustrations involving Pedrolino—i.e., the frontispiece of Giulio Cesare Croce's ''Pedrolino's Great Victory against the Doctor Gratiano Scatolone, for Love of the Beautiful Franceschina'' (1621)—the Zanni is shown thrashing [[il Dottore]] rather savagely (and, as the title indicates, victoriously). Such aggressive ferocity is almost never to be seen, early or late, in the behavioral repertoire of Pierrot. Pierrot can be murderous (see [[#"Shakespeare at the Funambules" and aftermath|"Shakespeare at the Funambules" and aftermath]] below), but he is very rarely pugnacious (as he is in the pantomimes of the [[Hanlon-Lees]]).</ref> an engine of the plot in the [[scenario]]s where he appears.<ref>He appears in forty-nine of the fifty scenarios in Flaminio Scala's ''Il teatro delle favole rappresentative'' (1611) and in three of the scenarios in the unpublished "Corsini" collection. Salerno has translated the Scala scenarios; Pandolfi (V, 252–276) has summarized the plots of the "Corsini" pieces.</ref> Pierrot, on the other hand, as a "second"' Zanni, stands "on the periphery of the action".<ref>"Indeed, Pierrot appears in comparative isolation from his fellow masks, with few exceptions, in all the plays of ''Le Théâtre Italien'', standing on the periphery of the action, commenting, advising, chiding, but rarely taking part in the movement around him": Storey, ''Pierrot: a critical history'', pp. 27-28.</ref> He dispenses advice and courts his master's young daughter, Columbine, bashfully.<ref>See the discussion in Storey, ''Pierrot: a critical history'', pp. 22–28.</ref>

His origins among the Italian players in France go back to [[Molière]]'s peasant Pierrot in ''[[Dom Juan|Don Juan, or The Stone Guest]]'' (1665).<ref>Fournier, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2013692/f124.image p. 113], provides the information for this paragraph. "If, as [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2013692/f125.image Fournier points out], Molière gave [his Pierrot] 'the white blouse of a French peasant', then I doubt very much that we have to look for traces of his origins [i.e., of the origins of the Italians' Pierrot] in the commedia dell'arte at all": Storey, ''Pierrot: a critical history'', p. 20.</ref> In 1673, the Comédie-Italienne made its own contribution to the Don Juan legend with an ''Addendum to "The Stone Guest''",<ref>This was its second such contribution, the first being ''Il Convitato di pietra'' (The Stone Guest, 1658), which was the basis for the ''Addendum'' (albeit without its Pierrot) and the inspiration for Molière's play. See Fournier, [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2013692/f124.image pp. 112-113].</ref> which included Molière's Pierrot.<ref>Harlequin Biancolelli's manuscript-[[scenario]] of the play offers no insight into Pierrot's character. Pierrot's name appears only once: "This scene takes place in the country. I drop the hunting horn at Spezzafer's feet; he blows it; then, on the run, I trip up '''Pierrot'''; then I find a blind man ....". MS of the Opéra (Paris), II, 177; cited in Klingler, p. 154.</ref> Thereafter the character—sometimes a peasant,<ref>See, e.g., [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDM0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA195 Act III, scene iii] of [[Eustache Le Noble]]'s ''Harlequin-Aesop'' (1691) in the Gherardi collection. A translated excerpt from the scene appears in Storey, ''Pierrot: a critical history'', p. 20.</ref> but more often now an Italianate "second" Zanni—appeared fairly regularly in the Italians' offerings, his role always taken by one Giuseppe Giaratone (or Geratoni, fl. 1639-1697).

Among the French dramatists writing roles for Pierrot were [[Jean de Palaprat]], Claude-Ignace Brugière de Barante, [[Antoine Houdar de la Motte]], and [[Jean-François Regnard]].<ref>See especially Regnard's [https://books.google.com/books?id=AzM0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA318 ''Happy-Go-Lucky Harlequin''] (1690), [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDM0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1 ''The Wayward Girls''] (1690), and [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDM0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA89 ''The Coquette, or The Ladies' Academy''] (1691); Palaprat's [https://books.google.com/books?id=6jM0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA72 ''The Level-headed Girl''] (1692); Houdar de la Motte's [https://books.google.com/books?id=6jM0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA290 ''The Eccentrics, or The Italian'' (Les Originaux, ou l'Italien, 1693)]; and Brugière de Barante's [https://books.google.com/books?id=UzQ0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA265 ''The False Coquette''] (1694). All appear in the Gherardi collection.</ref> They present him as an anomaly among busy social personalities around him.<ref>See, e.g., the [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDM0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA24 Scene des remontrances] of Regnard's ''Wayward Girls'' in the Gherardi collection.  A translated excerpt from this scene appears in Storey, ''Pierrot: a critical history'', p. 23.</ref> Columbine laughs at his advances;<ref>See [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZDM0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA100 Act I, scene v] of Regnard's ''La Coquette'' and [https://books.google.com/books?id=6jM0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA321 Act III, scene i] of Houdar de la Motte's ''The Eccentrics'' (''Les Originaux''), both in the Gherardi collection. Translations of these scenes appear in Storey, ''Pierrot: a critical history'', pp. 26-27.</ref> his masters who are in pursuit of pretty young wives brush off his warnings to act their age.<ref>See, e.g., [https://books.goog-25.le.com/books?id=6jM0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA78 Act I, scene ii]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} of Palaprat's ''Level-Headed Girl'' in the Gherardi collection. A translated excerpt from this scene appears in Storey, ''Pierrot: a critical history'', pp. 24-25.</ref> His isolation bears the pathos of [[Antoine Watteau|Watteau]]'s portraits.