N.023 - Pulecenella

Since ancient times, Naples mastered the art of taking forms of representation and tailoring them to itself. Among these, the Neapolitan tradition of the Commedia dell'Arte held immense artistic value, giving rise to a joyful, irreverent, and unprecedented form of comedy. Pulcinella is undoubtedly one of its most iconic and complex masks, a mirror of the sub-proletariat and of the human spirit of the time. “Pulcinella is the caricature of man, that’s why he is universal,” said Eduardo De Filippo, someone who truly lived Pulcinella and, in many ways, became him. A figure poised between stage and real life, an expression of a people who may mock and demean themselves yet somehow manage to redeem themselves and get by. The illustration presents a stylized figure of Pulcinella against a deep black background. He wears his traditional white costume and dark mask, with a large, vivid red bow standing out on his chest.