or Niccolo dell'Abate born 1512, Modena, Duchy of Modena died 1571, Fontainebleau, Fr. Italian painter. He was trained in Modena and developed his mature style under the influence of his contemporaries Correggio and Parmigianino in Bologna (1544-52). There he painted portraits and decorated palaces with frescoes of landscapes and figure compositions in the Mannerist style. In 1552 he was invited by Henry II of France to work under Primaticcio at the Palace of Fontainebleau, where he executed immense murals (most now lost). He remained in France the rest of his life. His mythological landscapes were a principal source of the French Classical landscape tradition, and he was a precursor of Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin
(16th-18th centuries) Italian theatrical comedy performed by masked characters who use recurrent characters and themes as a basis for an improvised plot and dialogue
Italian theatrical form that flourished throughout Europe in the 16th-18th centuries. The characters, many portrayed by actors wearing masks including the witty gentleman's valet Harlequin, the Venetian merchant Pantelone, the honest and simpleminded servant Pierrot, the maidservant Columbina, the unscrupulous servant Scaramouche, and the braggart captain or Capitano were derived from the exaggeration or parody of regional or stock fictional types. The style emphasized improvisation within a framework of conventionalized masks and stock situations. It was acted by professional companies using vernacular dialects and plenty of comic action; the first known commedia dell'arte troupe was formed in 1545. Outside Italy it had its greatest success in France as the Comédie-Italienne; in England, it was adapted in the harlequinade and the Punch-and-Judy show (see Punch). See also Andreini family