The Dead Harlequin (painting)

In the short story The Dead Harlequin, The Dead Harlequin is a water-colour painting by Frank Bristow. The painting depicts the body of a harlequin on a checkered black-and-white marble floor. Through a window, the silhouette of another harlequin is seen gazing in. Mr Satterthwaite recognised the room as being the Terrace Room at Charnley. He also thought that the harlequin in the window of the painting looked like his friend Harley Quin.

Mr Satterthwaite bought the painting when he saw it at the Harchester Galleries on Bond Street. Then, mysteriously, others wanted to buy it from him. For Mr Satterthwaite, this painting started to connect with events which took place at Charnley some fourteen years previously. It seemed to illustrate something that had happened, although the artist could ont have been there.