Comedy: study for a mural for the German Theatre, New York (1908)

In 1908 Mucha was commissioned to decorate the interior of the newly renovated German Theater in New York. This included five large decorative panels, the stage curtain, and decorative elements for the foyer, the corridor, the staircase and the auditorium. The central panel was flanked by two vertical panels: Tragedy and Comedy.

Comedy is represented by a spring scene. The niece of Dr Baumfeld, at whose suggestoin Mucha received the commission, acted as the model for the female figure sitting under a blossoming tree. A young man sits in the branches of the tree playing a lute. He is accompanied by two women who are intoxicated by his music.