Commedia Dell Arte Masks Capitano
Il capitano il kapiˈtaːno italian for the captain is one of the four stock characters of commedia dell arte.
Commedia dell arte masks capitano. Each mask design is paired with a specific character based on its appearance and tradition. He most likely was never a captain but rather appropriated the name for himself. Representing spanish mercinary soldiers. Masks were originally all made of leather but now more commonly made of neoprene.
Capitano stock character of the italian commedia dell arte. Commedia dell arte masks are one of the most integral aspects of each stock character. Click on a photo for more details. Capitano is the braggert soldier always ready for a fight and prepared to run and retreat as soon as any real danger presents itself.
Below are some of the pieces from the arté masks workshop all designed and constructed by the hand of the artist majd murad. He was the prototype of a pretentious but cowardly military man. Il dottore is a comic personage originally from well fed and learned bologna. He is filled with bravado but the first to run at the slightest sign of danger.
Engraving by abraham bosse. This mask reflects the severity of the stock character as well as celebrating his egoistic characteristics. Newman has used the 17th century engravings of jaques callot to create a variety of takes on the shabby bombastic and cowardly capitano and created a few new. Leather masks commedia dell arte dellarte dell arte delarte del arte art.
The captain masks were originally flesh colored with a menacing nose to represent a bullying personality. This specific capitano represents cocodrillo crocodile and comes from classically trained mask maker alan g. Il dottore in commedia dell arte is usually dressed in the traditional style of a medieval doctor with a huge black suit often with a ruff and a notary s beret or large doctor s cap. He wears a mask over half of his face that highlights his bulbous nose.
This capitano commedia mask is one of the more architectural designs in the collection. An unsympathetic character he was originally a parody of the french and spanish mercenaries who overran 16th century italy. Despised by the italians and ridiculed in the theatre of the marketplace il capitano became a popular stock character of the commedia dell arte. The captain uses bravado and excessive shows of manliness to hide his true cowardly nature.
One of the earliest of the commedia characters he was a descendant of the miles gloriosus the braggart soldier of ancient roman comedy.