GILLOT, Claude
(b. 1673, Langres, d. 1722, Paris)

Italian Comedians

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Pen drawing
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Gillot was much attracted to the whole milieu represented by the Italian comedy and similar fairground theatre. He became involved in a variety of ways, and may have written for it as well as delineating it. Often preferring to use the pen, Gillot recreated and expanded scenes from the Commedia, with a rapid, lively grasp. He saw the potentiality, and the fascination, of this largely novel subject-matter. Under fancy costumes and exaggerated types, the 'comedy' is a thoroughly human one.