18th Century Masks

Last updated: Jan 5, 2024

Pages on vizards and invisories (black masks) of the 16th-17th centuries and other masks from the 12th-17th centuries are available elsewhere on this site.

H/T to Márcio and Trisha da Cunha.

Moretta and similar full-face black masks

These black masks seem to be the descendants of the vizards and invisories of the 16th-17th centuries.

• Henrietta Hobart, The Hon. Mrs Howard, later Countess of Suffolk by Thomas Gibson, c. 1720
• Felicità Sartori in Turkish dress by Rosalba Carriera, c. 1740
• Lady Sophia and Lady Charlotte Fermor by Thomas Bardwell
• Children Playing with a Hobby Horse by Joseph Francis Nollekens, c. 1741-1747
• David Garrick and Mrs. Pritchard in Benjamin Hoadley’s “The Suspicious Husband” by Francis Hayman, 1747
• Madame Joseph Nicolas Pancrace Royer by Jean-Marc Nattier, c. 1750
• The Ridotto in Venice by Pietro Longhi, 1750s
• Il Ridotto by a follower of Pietro Longhi
• Portrait of a woman with a mask, 1750s
• Exhibition of a Rhinoceros at Venice by Pietro Longhi, c. 1751
• The Ridotto Pubblico at Palazzo Dandolo by Francesco Guardi, c. 1765-1768
• Lady Betty Bustle and her maid Lucy preparing for the masquerade at the Pantheon, 1772
• Miniature portrait of a woman holding a mask to her face, late 18th century

Domino, Columbina, and similar half-face masks

• Eva Maria Veigel, Mrs. David Garrick, with a mask by Johann Zoffany, mid-18th century
• Arabella Astley Swimmer, Lady Vincent of Stoke D’Abernon by Anton Raphael Mengs, 1753
• The Charlatan by Giandomenico Tiepolo, 1756
• Unknown lady, called Baroness de Neubourg-Cromière by Alexander Roslin, 1756
• Wantonness Mask’d, 1771
• Young Lady who is decked out in a large, hooded, taffeta Domino, Galerie des Modes, 22e Cahier, 2e Figure, 1779; “As it all progresses, the demi-masks, or masks with taffeta beards, were made, more convenient than the full masks for speaking, breathing, and taking refreshments; it is a mask of this type that is shown in the Print.”
• The Return from a Masquerade – a Morning Scene, 1784
• Dressing for a Masquerade, 1790
• Three women in Roman masquerade costumes by Danië l Dupré, 1790

Half-face masks with beards

• Masquerade mask, 1780s
• Lady dressed in a very elegant grand Domino to go to a masked Ball, Galerie des Modes, 39e Cahier (bis), 6e Figure, 1784 (?)
• A Woman in Ball dress, Cabinet des Modes, 4e Cahier, 1ere Planche, 1786: “In the hand, a mask of black card, with beard of pink taffeta.”
• Dressing for a Masquerade, 1790

Bauta masks

• The Ridotto in Venice by Pietro Longhi, 1750s
• Exhibition of a Rhinoceros at Venice by Pietro Longhi, c. 1751
• Il Ridotto by a follower of Pietro Longhi
• The Charlatan by Giandomenico Tiepolo, 1756
• The Scent Seller by Pietro Longhi, c. 1756
• Magrat the Giant by Pietro Longhi, 1760
• The Visit by Pietro Longhi, 1760
• The Conversation by Pietro Longhi, 1760
• Maskers at the Mondo Nuovo by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, c. 1765
• The Soho masquerade conference between the premier and his journeyman, 1770
• Le Masque au Caffe, 1775
• Stanislaus Augustus with a mask by Johann Baptist von Lampi the Elder, c. 1788-1789

Other full-face/character masks

• Scene in a park, with figures from the Commedia dell’Arte by Marcellus Laroon the Younger, c. 1735
• The Fair Nun Unmask’d
• The Beauty Unmask’d
• A view of the dresses at the late masquerade given by the King of Denmark, 1768
• Frances Abington as the Comic Muse by Joshua Reynolds, 1769
• Isabel Parreño y Arce, Marquesa de Llano by Anton Raphael Mengs, 1771-1772
• A Masquerade, 1795
• Woman Holding a Mask of a Black Man by John Raphael Smith, c. 1795-1800