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One of the most famous of Watteau's paintings, this scenes portrays a troupe of Italian actors, who improvised satirical skits in Paris, lined up as if for a curtain call. The personalities of these players were stock characterizations; the figure in the centre is Pierrot, who was cast as the amiable yet unsuccessful lover who was constantly ridiculed. Despite the animated gestures and flickering light, a certain tender pathos pervades the scenes. One of Watteau's last works, painted shortly before his death at the age of thirty-seven, this canvas was supposedly given to his English doctor in payment of a medical fee.
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