Yellow Nineties 2.0

The Death of Pierrot SAVOYV6_icon4 SAVOYV6_icon4 The Death of Pierrot Aubrey Beardsley Paul Naumann IV October 1896 V6, p.33 20 x 13.6 cm Scene Pen and Ink interior bedroom Female Figure, Columbine Male Figure, Pierrot, Harlequin/Arlechhino, Pantalone, Il Dottoro, clown Commedia Dell’arte characters Sword Mask Gown Frock Bed, canopied bed, bed curtains Chair Veil Hat “Aubrey Beardsley” The Death of Pierrot The halftone reproduction of a pen-and-ink drawing by Beardsley is in portrait orientation, surrounded by a double-lined rectangular border. The illustration depicts a bedroom with the dead Pierrot (a sad clown) in bed in the background, and other stock figures from the commedia dell’arte in the foreground: Columbine (a perky maid servant), Arlecchino (Harlequin), Pantalone (a greedy old man), and Il Dottoro (a know-it-all doctor). In the bottom left corner is the artist’s signature: “Aubrey Beardsley,” with the first and last name separated by the back right leg of a wooden chair. The chair sits in the left side of the foreground, facing towards the centre of the scene, with only the back two legs visible, as the seat is heaped with items of clothing. The back of the chair has four horizontal rails connecting the back legs; the bottom one supports the black chair seat. Pierrot’s frock hangs over the back of the chair, flowing over the seat and on to the ground. The frock is sketched with small dotted lines that depict edges and folds in the fabric. The frock has ruffles visible at its collar and around the sleeve cuffs, all made via the same technique of dots. Hanging off the top of the right chair back is a pierrot cap made of the same dot pattern. On the floor beside the frock is a pair of slippers with laces tied in bows. The midsection of the image is taken up by five figures. The deceased Pierrot in the background lies covered in a blanket made of the same dot pattern. He is wearing a frock with ruffles at the collar and sleeves; his right arm rests atop the blanket. Pierrot’s head rests against a headboard, although only the right half of the headboard is visible as the fold of a curtain blocks off the left side. There are more bed curtains in the background created by dotted lines, hanging from the lacey valance of the canopy. A woman (Columbine) stands over Pierrot’s body, leaning forward over his deathbed but with her face is turned to the left to face the viewer. She is holding her left index finger against her lower lip as if to shush the viewer. Her black veil extends down her back, along its perimeter there is a thick cross hatched border. Several ribbons of the same black material stream off the bonnet and over her skirt. Her skirt is formed in large decorated curved pieces. At each curve in the bottom of the skirt there is a series of tightly packed flowers that form a line going up to the woman’s waist. The lower half of her legs stretch out from under her skirt; she is wearing dot patterned pantalets that reach down to her calves. She is wearing slippers. The man to her right, Arlecchino or Harlequin, is closer to the audience. His legs are pointed to the left towards Pierrot but his upper body is facing the audience. He is wearing stockings made of a floral design. He is making the same gesture as the woman with his left index finger against his lower lip. He is wearing a mask, white frock with a ruffled collar, and a tri-cornered black hat. The man directly behind the Harlequin is Iil Dottoro, the doctor, who stands in profile facing left, with the majority of his figure hidden behind the third and fifth figures. He has black dress shoes on with white laces tied in a bow. He is wearing a long black overcoat that extends down to his ankles, textured like fur. At his collar there are white ruffles. He has wisps of black facial hair on his chin and his nose hooks sharply down. He has flowing black hair that extends out of sight atop his overcoat. He has a hat on that has a wide brim at the front that extends upwards; at the back of his head the brim curves upwards again but ends in a point instead of widening. He is the only one of the four standing figures that rests flat footed; the others stand on the balls of their feet. At the rightmost edge of the image and closest to the viewer stands the fifth and final figure. This man, Pantalone, has his back to the viewer, with his head turned to the left. The bridge of his nose and left eye are the only visible parts of his face, the rest obscured by his left shoulder. He is wearing a white three-cornered hat patterned with dots in groups of three. He is wearing black pantaloons with white ruggles, slippers, and a decorated cape.