Cultural references to Pierrot have been made since the inception of the character in the 17th century. His character in contemporary popular culture — in poetry, fiction, and the visual arts, as well as works for the stage, screen, and concert hall — is that of the sad clown, often pining for love of Columbine, who usually breaks his heart and leaves him for Harlequin. Many cultural movements found him amenable to their respective causes: Decadents turned him into a disillusioned foe of idealism; Symbolists saw him as a lonely fellow-sufferer; Modernists converted him into a Whistlerian subject for canvases devoted to form and color and line.
This page lists the extensive use of Pierrot's stock character (whiteface with a tear, white shirt, cap, etc.) chronologically arranged according to country and artistic medium (e.g. music, film, literature). The vast geographical range from Europe to Asia and beyond shows how widespread interest in Pierrot is, as does the variation in the artistic styles, from traditional ballet to rap-songs and music videos.
Seventeenth century
France Playwrights Molière's character Pierrot in Don Juan, or The Stone Guest (1665).Fournier, p. 113, provides the information for this paragraph. "If, as Fournier points out, Molière gave [his Pierrot] "the white blouse of a French peasant", then I doubt very much that we have to look for traces of his origins [i.e., of the origins of the Italians' Pierrot] in the commedia dell'arte at all": Storey, Pierrot: a critical history, p. 20. Jean de Palaprat Claude-Ignace Brugière de Barante Antoine Houdar de la Motte Jean-François Regnard.See especially Regnard's Happy-Go-Lucky Harlequin (1690), The Wayward Girls (1690), and The Coquette, or The Ladies' Academy (1691); Palaprat's The Level-headed Girl (1692); Houdar de la Motte's The Eccentrics, or The Italian (Les Originaux, ou l'Italien, 1693); and Brugière de Barante's The False Coquette (1694). All appear in the Gherardi collection.
Eighteenth century France Performing artists
Pierre-François Biancolelli Jean-Baptiste Hamoche.Campardon, Spectacles, I, 391; tr. Storey, Pierrot: a critical history, p. 54, note 31. Fabio Sticotti (1676–1741) Antoine Jean Sticotti (1715–1772).Courville, II, 104; Campardon, Comédiens du roi, II, 145; Meldolesi. Plays Trophonius's Cave (1722) and The Golden Ass (1725)Both in Piron, IV; Storey translates a scene from Trophonius's Cave in Pierrot: a critical history, pp. 57–58. Songs ("Au clair de la lune")" ... without the least proof": Fournier, p. 114. Visual arts Jean-Honoré Fragonard (A Boy as Pierrot [1776–1780]) Claude Gillot (Master André's Tomb [c. 1717]), Nicolas Lancret (Italian Actors near a Fountain [c. 1719]) Philippe Mercier (Pierrot and Harlequin [n.d.]) Jean-Baptiste Oudry (Italian Actors in a Park [c. 1725]) Watteau (Italian Actors [c. 1719]) England Performers Carlo Delpini as Pierrot. So conceived, Pierrot was easily and naturally displaced by the native English Clown when the latter found a suitably brilliant interpreter. It did so in 1800, when "Joey" Grimaldi made his celebrated debut in the role.. Tiberio Fiorilli as Scaramouche in London.On the French players in England, and particularly on Pierrot in early English entertainments, see Storey, Pierrot: a critical history, pp. 82–89. John Rich, The Jealous Doctor; or, The Intriguing Dame, pantomime Denmark Performers Pasquale Casorti in Dyrehavsbakken around 1800 Giuseppe Casorti (1749–1826)http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Kunst_og_kultur/Teater/Danske_skuespillere/Casorti?highlight=pasquale%20casorti "Casorti", Gyldendals encyklopædi.
Germany Plays Ludwig Tieck's The Topsy-Turvy World (1798) Spain Paintings Goya's Itinerant Actors (1793) Nineteenth century Deburau at the Théâtre des Funambules
Performers Jean-Gaspard Deburau (1796–1846),On Deburau's life, see Rémy, Jean-Gaspard Deburau; on his pantomime, see Storey, Pierrots on the stage, pp. 7–35, and Nye (2014), Nye (2015–2016), and Nye (2016). Writers Charles Baudelaire, "The Essence of Laughter" (1855) Théodore de Banville Nodier, The Gold Dream, or Harlequin and the Miser (1828) Gautier, Posthumous Pierrot (1847)For a full discussion of the connection of all these writers with Deburau's Pierrot, see Storey, Pierrot: a critical history, pp. 104, 110–112, and Storey, Pierrots on the stage, pp. 7, 74–151. Banville, The Kiss (1887)For a full discussion of the connection of all these writers with Deburau's Pierrot, see Storey, Pierrot: a critical history, pp. 104, 110–112, and Storey, Pierrots on the stage, pp. 7, 74–151. Visual arts Drawing by Gustave Courbet for Fernand Desnoyers's The Black Arm (1856) Gustave Doré: Grimacing Pierrot Honoré Daumier Jean-Léon Gérôme: Duel after a Masked Ball (1857) Thomas Couture: The Supper after the Masked Ball (c. 1855) Henri Rivière, Pierrot novella Paul Margueritte, Pierrot, Murderer of His Wife (1881) Séverin's Poor Pierrot (1891) Catulle Mendès' Ol' Clo's Man (1896)On these pantomimes and on late nineteenth-century French pantomime in general, see Storey, Pierrot: a critical history, pp. 115–33, and Pierrots on the stage, pp. 253–315. Pantomime after Baptiste: Charles Deburau, Paul Legrand, and their successors
Charles Deburau (1829–1873) succeeded his father.See, e.g., Gautier in Le Moniteur Universel, August 30, 1858; tr. Storey, Pierrots on the stage, p. 59. (Nadar's photographs of him in various poses are some of the best to come out of his studio—if not some of the best of the era.)For a gallery of these photographs, see Paul Legrand (1816–1898) performed at the Funambules. He later moved to the Folies-Nouvelles.Many reviewers of his pantomimes make note of this tendency: see, e.g., Gautier, Le Moniteur Universel, October 15, 1855; July 28, 1856; August 30, 1858; tr. Storey, Pierrots on the stage, pp. 66–68. In this he was abetted by the novelist and journalist Champfleury, who set himself the task, in the 1840s, of writing "realistic" pantomimes.Champfleury, p. 6.On the Folies-Nouvelles, Legrand's pantomime, and Champfleury's relationship to both, see Storey, Pierrots on the stage, pp. 36–73. Louis Rouffe (1849–1885) performed the role.Séverin, p. 47. Séverin (1863–1930)Séverin, p. 179. Georges Wague (1875–1965)Wague, pp. 8–11, 17; Rémy, George Wague, p. 27. Marcel Marceau's Bip was a Pierrot of sorts. Writers Marquis Pierrot (1847) Pantomime of the Attorney (1865) Gustave Flaubert, Pierrot in the Seraglio (1855) Pantomime and late nineteenth-century art France Popular and literary pantomime
A female version, Pierrette, appears on the scene Songs Xavier Privas wrote the songs ["Pierrette Is Dead", "Pierrette's Christmas"] Performing artists Félicia Mallet played Pierrot at the Cercle FunambulesqueSee Storey, Pierrots on the stage, pp. 284–294. Sarah Bernhardt in Jean Richepin's Pierrot the Murderer (1883). The English brothers Hanlon-Lees, portrayed Pierrots, sometimes at the Folies Bergère.See Cosdon, p.49. Visual arts, fiction, poetry, music, and film Adolphe Willette drew Pierrots Willette's paintings. Jules Chéret, postersFor posters by Willette, Chéret, and many other late nineteenth-century artists, see Maindron. Odilon Redon, engravings The Swamp Flower: A Sad Human Head (1885) Georges Seurat, paintings (Pierrot with a White Pipe [Aman-Jean] (1883); The Painter Aman-Jean as Pierrot (1883) Léon Comerre: Pierrot (1884), Pierrot Playing the Mandolin (1884) Henri Rousseau: A Carnival Night (1886), Paul Cézanne: Mardi gras [Pierrot and Harlequin] (1888) Fernand Pelez (Grimaces and Miseries a.k.a. The Saltimbanques (1888) Pablo Picasso (Pierrot and Columbine (1900) Guillaume Seignac (Pierrot's Embrace (1900) Théophile Steinlen (Pierrot and the Cat (1889) Édouard Vuillard (The Black Pierrot (c. 1890) Jean Richepin's novel Nice People; Braves Gens (1886) Paul Verlaine, "Pantomime" (1869) and "Pierrot" (1868, pub. 1882).For a full discussion of Verlaine's many versions of Pierrot, see Storey, Pierrots on the stage, pp. 230–52. Laforgue, poems (1885) and The Imitation of Our Lady the Moon (1886) Claude Debussy's songs "Pantomime" and "Pierrot" (not published until 1926) Telemann's Burlesque Overture (1717–22) Mozart's 1783 "Masquerade". The score, which is fragmentary, exists as K. 446. Robert Schumann's Carnival (1835).Debussy may have added the operetta Mon ami Pierrot (1862) by Léo Delibes, whom he admired, to this list. He probably would have excluded Jacques Offenbach's Pierrot Clown, a theater score of 1855. Georges Méliès's film A Nightmare , The Magician Alice Guy's film Arrival of Pierrette and Pierrot , Pierrette's Amorous Adventures Ambroise-François Parnaland's Pierrot's Big Head/Pierrot's Tongue , Pierrot-Drinker ) Emile Reynaud's Poor Pierrot (1892) Belgium Painters Félicien Rops, Blowing Cupid's Nose James Ensor The Strange Masks , Pierrot's Despair , Pierrot and Skeleton in Yellow Albert Giraud, poem Pierrot lunaire (Moonstruck Pierrot ), Pierrot-Narcissus (1887) choreographer Joseph Hansen's 1884 ballet, Macabre Pierrot (together with poet Théo Hannon England
Pierrot figured prominently in the drawings of Aubrey Beardsley, and various writers referenced him in their poetry. Poem first published in December 1893 number of Harper's Magazine. Ethel Wright, painting Bonjour, Pierrot! (1893) Clifford Essex, pantomime L'Enfant prodigue (Pierrot the Prodigal )http://www.prom-prom.com/tony-lidington/radio/pierrot-hero-clifford-essex/ "Pierrot Hero: The Memoirs of Clifford Essex." Pierrots sang, danced, juggled, and joked on the piers of Brighton, Margate and Blackpool.See Calvert, Pertwee. Will Morris Pierrots Walter Westley Russell painting The Pierrots (c. 1900) Edward Gordon Craig, in 1897, gave a stage-reading dressed as Pierrot.Martin Shaw, How We Met—Edward Gordon Craig and Martin Shaw. Austria and Germany Franz Blei: The Kissy-Face: A Columbiade (1895) Richard Specht: Pierrot-Hunchback (1896) Richard Beer-Hofmann: Pierrot-Hypnotist (1892, first pub. 1984).Vilain, pp. 69, 77, 79. Hermann Bahr: Pantomime of the Good Man (1893) Rudolf Holzer: Puppet Loyalty (1899) Karl Michael von Levetzow: Two Pierrots (1900)Toepfer, "Germanic Pantomime: Pierrot in Vienna", n.p. (pp. 731–32, 742–44 in PDF download)
Frank Wedekind, Earth Spirit (1895) Paul Hoecker paintings Pierrots with Pipes (c. 1900) and Waiting Woman (c. 1895). Italy Leoncavallo, Pagliacci opera (1892) Mario Pasquale Costa L'Histoire d'un Pierrot (Story of a Pierrot), 1893 Vittorio Monti Cavalleria Rusticana 1909 Baldassarre Negroni Cavalleria Rusticana as a film in 1914.Sansone, n.p. Its libretto, like that of Monti's "mimodrama" Noël de Pierrot a.k.a. A Clown's Christmas (1900), was written by Fernand Beissier.Storey, Pierrots on the stage, p. 286. Vittorio Matteo Corcos painting Portrait of Boy in Pierrot Costume, 1897 Spain Jacinto Benavente play The Whiteness of Pierrot. North America Pierrot in the so-called little magazines of the 1890s. The Chap-Book (1894–98) printed Percival Pollard's Pierrot piece in its second number,"For a Jest's Sake" (1894).See reproductions (in poster form) in Margolin, pp. 110, 111. Canadian poet Bliss Carman in Harper's.)Carman's "The Last Room. From the Departure of Pierrot" appeared originally in the August 1899 number of Harper's; it is reprinted (as "The Last Room") in composer Amy Beach Children's Carnival (1894) composer Arthur Foote Five Bagatelles (1893) William Dean Howells, Pastels in Prose (1890)It also contains a short tale of Pierrot by Paul Leclercq, "A Story in White".Merrill, p. vii. Alfred Thompson, Pierrot the Painter (1893),"Mr. Sargent's Pupils Again", New York Times, February 16, 1894. music by Laura Sedgwick Collins."Pierrot at Berkeley Lyceum", New York Times, December 8, 1893. Stuart Merrill, Pastels in Prose William Theodore Peters, Posies out of Rings: And Other Conceits (1896)