Alfred Cohen Art Foundation
© Estate of Alfred Cohen 2020

Scaramouche (top left) is one of the commedia dell’arte’s stock clowns; facing him is a youthful, Punch, dressed to impress. But the ‘masque for Polichinelle’ (lower left) gives a contrasting view. The words are from a French song in which a military Punch boasts his omnipotence:

quand je marche la terre tremble
c’est moi qui conduis le soleil

‘when I march, the Earth trembles / I make the sun move’. Yet the pale mask and skeletal jaw tell a different story, giving the appearance of a death’s head. The seated figure (lower right), Harlequin, raises his arm in what looks like a friendly greeting. But his enigmatic mask makes it hard to read his intentions. His other arm is resting on, or might be reaching for, his cudgel.