Editing Columbine (stock character)

{{Short description|Commedia dell'arte character}}
{{Redirect|Colombina}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}

[[File:SAND Maurice Masques et bouffons 03.jpg|thumb|1862 depiction of a Columbine set in 1683<ref>{{cite book|title=Masques et bouffons comédie italienne · Volume 1|last=Sand|first=Maurice|date=1862|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HRsDqX8dWc8C|pages=248,355}}</ref>]]
'''Columbine''' ([[Italian language|Italian]]: '''Colombina'''; [[French language|French]]: '''Colombine''';<ref>{{Cite web |title=Colombina |url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/colombina_res-0f3e617a-962b-11de-baff-0016357eee51 |website=Enciclopedia Treccani |language=it}}</ref> {{literally|little [[Columbidae|dove]]}}) is a [[stock character]] in the [[commedia dell'arte]].<ref name="Oxford">{{Cite book |last1=Coulson |first1=J. |title=The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary |last2=Carr |first2=C. T. |last3=Hutchinson |first3=Lucy |last4=Eagle |first4=Dorothy |last5=Hawkins |first5=Joyce |publisher=Book Club Associates |year=1976 |edition=Second |location=Great Britain |pages=167 |quote=Columbine, Character in Italian comedy, the mistress of Harlequin (Arlecchino).}}</ref> She is [[Harlequin]]'s mistress,<ref name="Oxford" /> a comic servant playing the [[tricky slave]] type, and wife of [[Pierrot]]. Rudlin and Crick use the Italian spelling Colombina in ''Commedia dell'Arte: A Handbook for Troupes''.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rudlin |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CgMKhwelZzUC&q=%22columbina%20never%20existed%22 |title=Commedia dell'arte: A Handbook for Troupes |last2=Crick |first2=Oliver |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-415-20409-5 |page=xiii |quote=... certainly not 'Columbina'—who never existed anywhere. }}</ref>

==History==
The role of the female servant was originally that of an entr'acte dancer.{{sfn|Grantham|2000|pages=}} Women were not allowed to be part of the story that was being played out on stage, but they were allowed to have a dance in-between the action. Eventually these women became the buxom and gossipy servants of characters that were already allowed on stage, and then, later, the counterparts to the [[Zanni]] characters.{{sfn|Grantham|2000|pages=}}{{sfn|Rudlin|1994|page=127: Although Colombina became the dominant name, especially as Colombine in France and Columbine in England, she had originally been called Franceschina, Smeraldina, Oliva, Nespola, Spinetta, Bobilina, Ricciolina, Corallina, Diamantina, Lisette, etc}}{{sfn|Oreglia|1968 |page=123}} Columbine was very down to earth and could always see the situation for what it actually was. She was also sometimes portrayed as a prostitute. She was very infrequently without something to say to or about someone.{{sfn|Smith|1964|page=8}}

She is dressed in a very short ragged and patched dress, appropriate to a master of the arts. These characters were usually played unmasked, but with bonnets and metal chokers.{{sfn|Oreglia|1968 |page=123}} She was also known to wear heavy makeup around her eyes{{sfn|Rudlin|1994|loc=p. 129: Unmasked, but the eyes wide and well made-up. Can wear a domino for special excursions}} and carry a tambourine,{{sfn|Moland|1867 |pages=168–169}} which she could use to fend off the amorous advances of [[Pantalone]]. Columbine was sometimes chased after by [[Harlequin]] (Arlecchino) or was close friends with him. There is record of Columbine using numerous disguises to trick or seduce Harlequin. Where most other characters are content with one disguise, Gheraldi's Columbine has several different disguises to confuse Harlequin and to keep the audience on their toes.{{sfn|Smith|1964|page=202: Gheralid's Columbine must needs keep her audience awake by tormenting Arlequin with her ass in a constant changing personality, now as a doctor, now as a lawyer or peddler}} 

She was sometimes the only functional intellect on the stage, but not always.{{sfn|Oreglia|1968 |page=123}}{{sfn|Rudlin|1994|loc=p. 128-129: The only lucid, rational person in commedia dell'arte, analogous to Maria in Twelfth Night}} Columbine aided her mistress, the ''[[innamorati|innamorata]]'', to gain the affections of her one true love. She is sometimes the lover of Harlequin, but not always. They sometimes engage in sexual activity, but not always.{{sfn|Smith|1964|page=11}} She may be a flirtatious and impudent character, indeed a [[soubrette]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

In the ''[[verismo]]'' opera ''[[Pagliacci]]'' by [[Ruggero Leoncavallo]], the head of the troupe's wife, Nedda, playing as Columbine, cheats on her husband, Canio, playing as [[Pierrot]], both onstage with Harlequin and offstage with Silvio.

Although Columbine is one name associated with the female servant prostitute character archetype, other names under which the same character is played in [[commedia dell'arte]] performances include Franceschina, Smeraldina, Oliva, Nespola, Spinetta Ricciolina, and Corallina Diamantina.{{sfn|Grantham|2000|pages=}}{{sfn|Smith|1964|page=8}}{{sfn|Oreglia|1968 |page=122}} Colombina became the most common name used to describe the ''sobretta'' character, especially as Colombine in France and Columbine in England.{{sfn|Rudlin|1994|page=127}}

One of the actresses who made this character famous was Silvia Roncagli, the first woman recorded doing a seretta role named Francheschina in about 1570.{{sfn|Oreglia|1968 |page=123}} One of the first women to play the role named Colombina was Italian actress Isabella Franchini Biancolelli.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Radulescu |first=Domnica |title=Caterina's Colombina: The Birth of a Female Trickster in Seventeenth-Century France |date=2008 |journal=Theatre Journal |volume=60 |pages=87–113 |doi=10.1353/tj.2008.0059 |jstor=25070159 |issue=1 |s2cid=191330309}}</ref> Her granddaughter, [[Caterina Biancolelli]], was one of the most famous serettas whose name was Colombina.{{sfn|Oreglia|1968 |page=123}} She played the part about 1683.{{sfn|Rudlin|1994|pages=128–129}}

There is record of the French playwright [[Molière]] having attended many performances of the [[Comédie-Italienne]], or commedia dell'arte. He is even referenced in a performance by Angelo Costantini of his show ''Une Vie de Scaramouche'', which refers to the writer and poet.{{sfn|Moland|1867 |pages=168–169}} This might suggest that the servant character in many of Molière's plays, such as Dorine in his play ''Tartuffe'', might be based on this particular character archetype from the commedia dell'arte.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Harlekin Columbine Tivoli Denmark.jpg |[[Harlequin]] dancing with Columbine
File:Pierre-Antoine Quillard - A Commedia dell’Arte scene with Columbina, Harlequin and Pierrot,.jpg |Pierrot, Columbine, and Harlequin (painting by [[Pierre-Antoine Quillard]], {{circa|1733}})
File:Röpke lapok (1915-1-1).jpg|The cover of the newspaper ''[[:Commons:Category:Röpke lapok|Röpke Lapok]]'' by [[Richard Geiger]] featuring Pierrot and Columbine
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Commedia dell'arte]]
* [[Pierrot]]
* [[Caterina Biancolelli]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{Cite book |last=Rudlin |first=John |url=https://www.routledge.com/Commedia-DellArte-An-Actors-Handbook/Rudlin/p/book/9780415047708 |title=Commeida dell'Arte |publisher=Routledge |year=1994 |isbn=978-0415047708 |location=New York |pages=129}} 
* {{Cite book |last=Grantham |first=Barry |title=Playing Commedia: A Training Guide to Commedia Techniques |publisher=Heinemann Drama |year=2000 |location=Portsmouth NH |isbn= 9780325003467}}
* {{Cite book |last=Oreglia |first=Giacomo |title=The Commedia dell'Arte |publisher=Hall and Wang |year=1968 |location=New York |isbn=9780374961527 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VNMqAQAAMAAJ}}
* {{cite journal|last=Radulescu|first=Domnica|date=March 2008|title=Caterina's Colombina: The Birth of a Female Trickster in Seventeenth-Century France|journal=Theatre Journal|volume=60|issue=1|pages=87–113|doi=10.1353/tj.2008.0059 |issn=0192-2882|jstor=25070159|s2cid=191330309 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Winifred |title=The Commedia dell'Arte |publisher=Benjamin Blom, Inc. |year=1964 |isbn=9780405089848 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4zZdAAAAMAAJ}}
* {{Cite book |last=Moland |first=Louis |title=Molère et la Comédie Italienne |publisher=Dider et Cie |year=1867 |location=Paris |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=E1yNICFiSBEC&dq=Moland,+Louis+(1867).+Mol%C3%A8re+et+la+Com%C3%A9die+Italienne.&pg=PA7}}

==External links==
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Columbine (pantomime)}}

{{Stock characters}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Female stock characters]]
[[Category:Fictional tricksters]]
[[Category:Commedia dell'arte female characters]]
[[Category:Fictional servants]]
[[Category:Fictional Italian people]]