Pulcinella

Pulcinella represents in the end the most original character of the Artistic Neapolitan Crib, a Neapolitan theatrical masque whose origins have been lost in the darkness of time. Its first concrete trace is to be found in the Seventeenth Century, whereas in the preceding centuries its story is intermingled with other street artists such as clowns, jesters, charlatans and acrobats of various names, which was passed down the centuries through popular culture by word of mouth. The most probable theory relates to that of a Neapolitan who lived in the Fifteenth Century who had been given the epithet of Pulcinella, which is a diminutive of the word for chick (pulcino). According to the popular satire of the middle Seventeenth Century, he was born in Acerra, a small country town not far from the capital.
Notwithstanding a vast literature on the subject it is difficult to reconstruct old historical character that existed before the writings on the Pulcinella of the Commedia dell’Arte.
Pulcinella’s art was one characterised by excessive ability to act with apparent indifference passing through vicissitudes and the most complicated situations as if they meant nothing. In any situation Pulcinella was always able to save himself with the right word or that invincibility which was part of his personality, yet always with a reserve that would prevent him undertaking, to the full, any role he had to assume.
Weak or brave, melancholy or gay, boaster or modest, clever or stupid, crafty or foolish, honest or a thief, these are only few of the infinite facets that are mixed and fused within the same character. It is also for this reason that the figure of Pulcinella has assumed the role of a talisman against the sadness of life. Such is a perfect marriage with the fatalistic character of the Neapolitan people.
The Neapolitan masque became wildly spread in all of Europe. This is witnessed by the countless iconographic representations by many artists (other than the Venetian Tiepolo, we see Picasso, Muller, Morner, Duclere, Lindstrom and many others).