Artist Reply: :-) This piece was inspired by the old paintings depicting subjects from the Comedia Dell' Arte. They had a charming, almost naive allure to them, yet were filled with sensitivity and wonder. I could have made him a bit more realistic, mind you, but was afraid to lose the quality I was after. The Harlequin or Arlecchino was the conventional buffon who teased others and behaved silly with his acrobatic antics and who's love interest - the sweet Columbine, he pursued without much success. Thus my depiction of him, mocking and swinging a heart by a thread as if to say...I don't care for love, I don't need love. Look, I'm laughging at it! But in reality, he was hiding a broken heart and the fog swirling around him like a vapor, reveals his true passion. Thanks you Olga and everyone else for your kindness. JP