The Casino (Il ridotto). By Pietro Longhi. Eighteenth century. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Few objects come in such a vast palette as masks, which can be worn on the top, bottom or the whole of the face, and are used to perform religious ceremonies, to embellish festive occasions, to conceal one's identity or to protect against disease, such as the surgical masks invented in 1897 by Paul Berger and Jan Mikulicz-Radecki, popularized during the “Spanish flu” of 1918-1919, and massively used since the Covid crisis. The XVI th and XVII th centuries have made just as varied use of it, whether dressing up for a special occasion, such as carnival, representing a role in the theater or simply preserving one's complexion while cultivating an air of mystery, such as the did the women of high society. Since ancient times, masks have been used to protect the face from the sun's rays. The complexion said a lot about social belonging:tanned skin was the sign of the practice of physical work, while fair skin was synonymous with ease. The whiteness of the complexion was also a fundamental criterion of beauty for women, who therefore preferred to shorten their exposure to the sun or wear a mask when they had no other choice but to travel on foot or on horseback. A velvet face Widely adopted by women of the aristocracy, this accessory embellished the walking outfits immortalized by many artists. In a collection of fashion plates entitled Omnium pene Europae, Asiae, Aphricae atque Americae gentium habitus , the Dutch illustrator Abraham De Bruyn thus depicts an amazon with a completely masked face, which he accompanies with the following caption:“Thus do the women of the nobility ride or walk. In his book The Anatomy of Abuses (1583), the Briton Philip Stubbes explains that, “to leave their homes, women completely cover their face with a mask [visor ] in velvet pierced with two holes for the eyes. If men who do not yet know them cross their path by chance, they have every reason to imagine themselves facing a monster or a demon, since in the absence of a face they only see two glass balls instead of eyes. . » Also read:The corset:the tyranny of the wasp waist In a work published at the end of the XVII th century and titled An Academy of Armory , the Briton Randle Holme III distinguished the mask of the vizard . The first refers to “a mask once used by aristocratic women to protect their faces from the sun when they travelled. It covered only the top of the face, from nose to eyebrows, and two holes drilled at eye level allowed them to see their way; the rest of the face was covered by a veil. Rectangular in shape or rounded on top, they were usually made of black velvet. The second “completely covered the face and had holes at eye level, a hollow at nose level and a speaking slit at mouth level. It was only worn at times and was held in place by a round button attached to its inside face, which the women held between their teeth. » In France, we wear the wolf In France, these masks (vizards ) were baptized “wolves” because “at first he frightened little children”, explains Antoine Furetière in his Universal Dictionary published at the end of the XVII th century. Although the wolf today evokes the half-mask worn at the masquerade ball, it "[took then] from the forehead to under the chin" and "[held] with a button in the mouth". About the masks, Furetière adds that “we used to wear square masks. Now we carry wolves. The field masks are very large; those of towns are very small. Black satin half-masks were also very common in major European cities, as evidenced by numerous paintings and engravings of the time. Accessories of coquetry or anonymity, the mask was also widely used to hide the scars of disease or lesions caused by the use of aggressive creams. In various forms, the mask became an accessory of coquetry that every woman in the world should have in her wardrobe. As Antoine Furetière always notes, it was indeed considered that “the black of the velvet [made] the whiteness of the throat appear more”. The mask could also be used to hide skin burned by the use of harsh creams or ointments, or damaged by disease lesions. According to a French memoirist, the wife of Parisian judge Lescalopier wore a mask to hide the scars that tuberculosis had left on her face. Appreciated for walking around town while maintaining anonymity, masks were also the essential accessory for the masked ball, which flourishes in many cities. London anecdotes In London in the 1660s, an elegant lady's winter attire had to consist of gloves, a scarf, a fur muff and a mask covering all or part of her face to protect it. of the sun. In his Journal , the British memoirist Samuel Pepys makes several references to the wearing of masks by women. After meeting Lord Fauconberg and his wife Mary Cromwell at the Royal Theater one evening, he remarked, for example, that she “was as lovely as usual, dressed with great taste; but, when the hall filled with spectators, she put on her vizard , which she kept until the end of the play”. Also read:George Brummel, the prince of elegance Another day, Samuel Pepys mentioned buying a mask for his wife from a shop in London's Covent Garden. The appearances of a masked woman could otherwise be deceiving, as testified by the same Pepys, to whom a certain Mrs. , very pretty and modest. Particularly common in gambling houses, which sometimes served as brothels, wearing the oval mask was banned in 1704 by Anne Stuart, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. Venice, the queen of masks If there is a city where the mask blends into the daily landscape, it is Venice. During Carnival as in other seasons of the year, especially from October to December, citizens of the Republic of Venice were allowed to wear, with a costume consisting of a cape (tabarro ) and a tricorn, the mask called bauta , recognizable by his elongated nose, his fleshy lip and his imposing jaw that distorted the voice. Called moretta , its female variant was very similar to the traveling mask that was all the rage in 16th century France and England. and XVII th centuries. It was indeed an oval piece of velvet that held thanks to a button fixed on its inner face and was accompanied by a wide-brimmed hat and a veil. Venetians also wore black silk masks decorated with beads or feathers and tied with a ribbon, or more basic masks trimmed with lace and held at eye level by means of a wand. All variations were allowed in the carnival city. Find out more Masks. Rites and symbols in Europe, Y. de Sike, La Martinière, 1998. English find In 2010, a 16 th mask was discovered century in Daventry, a town in central England. Hidden in the niche of a wall, it measured 19.5 cm long and 17 cm wide, and consisted of a base of compressed paper, covered with black velvet on the outside and lined with white silk on the inside. interior, all sewn with black cotton thread. Spanish women prefer to wear the veil It seems that the fashion for the mask was not followed in Spain, where women preferred to protect their face with a light veil or a scarf that covered them from the eyes to the throat, thus recalling the yashmak Turkish. Since the Middle Ages, Spanish women used different headdresses to protect themselves from external aggressions. The most common was the mantilla, which they wore in private as well as in public, as it covered not only their head, but also their nose and mouth. In the city, we also saw the development of the use of a veil which only hid one eye or one side of the face and generally referred to adultery, or even prostitution. A sign of distinction At the court of Louis XIII, some ladies kept their masks on as a sign of superiority. According to a memoirist, Queen Mother Marie de Medici was so proud that on a visit to Brussels, where she was greeted by a splendid reception, she “did not deign to remove her mask until after entering the church”.
