His name puts him as the last, though not the least of the Masks of the Commedia – actually there was a Zorg and a Zuccarino listed by Allardyce Nicoll – of which little more than their names are known, both were in fact Zanni, for as you know the word Zanni, the form being the same in singular and plural, can be used in a generic sense to refer to any or all of the male servant Masks of the Commedia dell’Arte, but also identifies a very specific character, one who appears from the earliest times and here represents the past – Commedia dell’Arte’s near on five hundred glorious years; the early days of setting up in the streets and market places of Italy, the later performances at royal and ducal courts, the acclamation of kings and the establishment under their protection in the great cities of Europe, the eventual invasion of Britain and the transformation to Pantomime – Grimaldi, Rich and Garrick too; the Victorian Harlequinade; Fokine’s ‘Carnaval’ and 1920’s figurines dancing across many an Art Deco mantelpiece.