Getty Museum

Figure (Beltrame di Milano [?])

Date

about 1720

Medium

Hard-paste porcelain

Culture

German

Department

Decorative Arts

Institution

Getty Museum

Characters from touring Italian theater groups known as the *commedia dell'arte* inspired sculptors at the Meissen porcelain manufactory from 1720 on. Beginning in the Renaissance, performances of various comedies by the professional actors' guild, or *arte*, had offered an entirely new form of entertainment, and this form of theater became increasingly popular in the 1700s. *Commedia* companies traveled and performed throughout Western Europe; actors entertained their audiences with music, dancing, and acrobatics combined with dramatic stories told with improvised dialogue. Theater-loving Europeans collected porcelain examples of their favorite characters from the *commedia dell' arte*, either singly or in groups, to ornament their dining tables and other areas of the home. This figure represents Beltrame di Milano, a wistful blind character from one of the more popular comedies. His theatrical pose and gesture enliven the unpainted porcelain.

The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.