The Comedy

Comedy, in this corner, is left to children. One of them crouches over a theatre mask lying on the ground, another leans on a long staff, and further along a tambourine and a trumpet have been dropped. The mask is the oldest sign of the stage, going back to the Greek theatre, where actors wore one for every role. De Wit painted the scene in tones of a single colour, so that from below it passes for sculpted relief. Its Dutch title, Het blijspel, is an old word for comedy that means, literally, the cheerful play.