Actor's wardrobe

Three men surround a lute player. A man in red clothing, sitting casually at a table, sings along. On the left stands a man, in a slashed, grey-yellow costume, who covers his face with a Venetian mask. The pose and getup of the man dressed in red are reminiscent of characters from the commedia dell’arte. Characters of this famous Italian improvised comedy where popularized through contemporary chamber plays and prints. Pieter Codde used the figure of the standing man with a mask in two other paintings as well. Requisites such as masks and the rapier on the wall suggest that this is a theatrical dressing room- a very seldomly depicted subject in 17th century Dutch art.| Britta Bode