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# Costume design by Jean Berain for a guitarist riding a snail, 17th century
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/khotelos-by-videt-na-met-gala-kostiumy-vrode-etogo/
- Published: 2021-10-28T11:21:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:56:49.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Art, Observations, Pop Culture

One would like to see costumes like this at the Met Gala. In the second half of the 17th century a whole series of such characters was created for Italian comic operas. Mostly this was how lutenists might appear, sometimes in the guise of mermaids and nereids, enthroned upon fantastical creatures such as sea horses, griffins, bears, ostriches and crocodiles.

Our hero, mounted on a snail, represents, oddly enough, an Indian or American guitarist, as emphasised by a mantle of feathers from exotic birds, with one purely European element: the mask of Harlequin. This is the work of the draughtsman and theatrical designer Jean Berain