Francesco or François Bigottini (c.1717,

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

- after 1794, probably in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was an Italian actor, playwright, and

set designer Scenic design, also known as stage design or set design, is the creation of scenery for theatrical productions including plays and musicals. The term can also be applied to film and television productions, where it may be referred to as prod ...

active in Italy, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Spain.

Life

In his ''Mémoires'',

Carlo Goldoni Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni (, also , ; 25 February 1707 – 6 February 1793) was an Italian playwright and librettist from the Republic of Venice. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays ...

says he first met Bigottini in

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

in 1741, where the latter was playing

harlequin Harlequin (, , ; , ) is the best-known of the comic servant characters (Zanni) from the Italian commedia dell'arte, associated with the city of Bergamo. The role is traditionally believed to have been introduced by the Italian actor-manager Zan ...

rôles. From the 1750s Bigottini appeared in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Austrian Netherlands The Austrian Netherlands was the territory of the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire between 1714 and 1797. The period began with the acquisition by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy of the former Spanish Netherlands under the Treaty of Ras ...

and France, playing in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

in 1754,

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

in 1756, and in

at the Théâtre-Italien in 1757. Gueullette wrote "On Wednesday 26 April

757 757 may refer to:575 * Boeing 757, a narrow-body airliner * AD 757, a year * 757 BC, a year * 757 (number), a number * Area code 757, a North American telephone dialling code * "757", a song by 100 gecs from ''10,000 gecs'' * The 757, a nickname fo ...

an Italian harlequin called Bigottini made his début in "Arlequin Scanderberg" and "Arlequin Hulla"; in the former, he played a rôle as a master of music very well, and played very badly in "Arlequin Hulla"; he was sent packing shortly afterwards". Bigottini left for the French provinces and acted in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

in 1760, where he put on his own play ''Coraline Protée'' (1761). He was in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

from 1766 to 1768, where he printed his play ''L'Origine d'Arlequin, avec sa naissance'' (1766). The ''

Mercure de France The () was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was publis ...

'' wrote that he was the "first inventor of the machines used in the metamorphosis in the ''Fée Urgelle'' in Geneva" (that is, the transformation of a cottage into a splendid castle). After playing in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, Bigottini travelled towards Spain and spent three years playing at the Italian opera-house in

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

, from which he negotiated to be taken on at

Théâtre de la Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (, ; , ; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National Opera of Belgium, a federal institution, takes the name of this theatre in which it is ho ...

. In one of his letters, he wrote to that theatre's heads, Vitzthumb and Compain "I have nearly all my sets and machines for my plays, and I would thus also furnish you with all that I have, sets, machines, ropes, pulleys, scrap and all the other "diableries", if you would be furnish me with the wood". They finally took him on as a harlequin for the 1774–1775 season, with his contract stipulating that he would "lend he theatreall his machines and sets". On 18 February 1777, he made a second début at the Théâtre-Italien, in ''Arlequin esprit follet'', a play he had written himself. The ''

'' wrote: "His metamorphoses are very numerous and very surprising. Mr Bigottini is admired for the variety of his changes, by their speed and attack with which he executes them, by the contrast he makes between his different rôles, and by the varied talents he develops. This actor sings, in a strong and pleasing manner, airs of his own composition.". However, after the suppression of the Italian theatrical genre in Paris at the start of 1780, Bigottini was dismissed with a compensation corresponding to his previous salary. In January 1780, he collaborated with François Duval-Malter, Louis Hamoir and Jean-Nicolas Le Mercier to head the

Théâtre des Variétés-Amusantes The Théâtre des Variétés-Amusantes () was a theatre company in Paris. History In 1778, Louis Lécluse (or Lécluze), a former actor at the Opéra-Comique turned dentist, opened a theatre at foire Saint-Laurent, which shortly afterwards he tra ...

, but had to give up this post 11 months later due to his own financial difficulties. He left for the provinces and set himself up in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, where he devoted himself to painting and had a child, the future dancer

Émilie Bigottini Émilie Bigottini (16 April 1784, in Toulouse – 28 April 1858, in Paris) was a French dancer of Italian ancestry. The daughter of Francesco Bigottini, a famous harlequin at Paris's Comédie-Italienne, she joined the Opéra ballet at age 17 a ...

External links

His rôles, plays and productions on CESAR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bigottini Male actors from Rome 1710s births 1794 deaths Writers from the Papal States Emigrants from the Papal States Immigrants to France Italian dramatists and playwrights 18th-century French male actors French male stage actors 18th-century French dramatists and playwrights