French, 1834–1917

Along with six related pastels that Edgar Degas completed between 1884 and 1886, Harlequin is based on the ballet-harlequinade The Twins of Bergamo—a Commedia dell'Arte—type farce about two Harlequin brothers from Bergamo who arrive in Paris and accidentally fall in love with the same woman. Based on an 18th-century comedy that was revived as an opéra comique in 1864, the ballet was composed by Théodore de Lajarte, with choreography by Louis Mérante and costumes by Count Ludovic Lepic, both longtime friends of the artist. Although it premiered at the Paris Opéra in early 1886, Degas attended rehearsals in July 1885 as well as a trial run at the Casino de Paramé in Brittany in August 1885. The present work depicts Harlequin Senior beating the cloaked scoundrel who has been courting his beloved. Immediately following this episode, he discovers that the man under the cloak is, in fact, his brother, Harlequin Junior.

_{Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas. Harlequin, 1885. The Art Institute of Chicago, bequest of Loula D. Lasker.}