Flemish Puppet PAGLIACCI

Flemish Puppet "Pagliacci," 15 x 10 inch ink and watercolor by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I found this marionette spotlit in a glass display case in the Folk Art Museum in Ghent, Belgium, and recorded him in my sketchbook.  Later, back home, I found a photo in a book of Enrico Caruso wearing the exact same costume and realized the puppet was Canio from the opera Pagliacci.  I redid my sketch in ink and watercolor and added the knife and the fallen body of Canio's faithless wife Nedda to recreate the final scene of the opera.

"La Commedia e' finita!"