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This webpage shows different styles of masks, and demonstrates the purposes for which masks were worn in the late Middle Ages, as well as a few metaphorical depictions of masks. Examples below include mummers’ masks, Carnival masks, and other disguises.
Masks for commedia dell'arte and 16th & 17th century women's masks (vizards and invisories) have moved to their own linkspages.
For more links on masks and mask-making, click here.
- Leather masks from Novgorod, 12th-14th centuries (see Letters from Old Russia, State Historical Museum, Birchbark Letters, and TV-Novosti)
- Feast for the wedding of Fauvel, The Romance of Fauvel (BNF Fr. 146, fols. 34, 34v, and 36v), c. 1320
- The Romance of Alexander (Bodl. 264), 1338-1344, fols. 21v, 70r, 117v, and 181v
- Treason (with Envy and Criticism) in The Pilgrimage of Human Life (Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève 1130, fol. 55), c. 1367-1399
- The Final Section, Devoted to Methods of Casting from Cennini's Libro dell'Arte, early 15th century
- From Proclamation at Christmas, 1418 (6 Henry V. A.D. 1418. Letter-Book I. fol. ccxxiii.): “The Mair and Aldermen chargen on þe Kynges byhalf, and þis Cite, þat no manere persone, of what astate, degre, or condicioun þat euere he be, duryng þis holy tyme of Cristemes be so hardy in eny wyse to walk by nyght in eny manere mommyng, pleyes, enterludes, or eny oþer disgisynges with eny feynyd berdis, peyntid visers, diffourmyd or colourid visages in eny wyse, up peyne of enprisonement of her bodyes, and macyng fyne aftir þe discrecioun of þe Mair and Aldremen; outake þat hit be leful to eche persone for to be honestly mery as he can, with in his owne hous dwellyng.”
- Guillaume de Digulleville and Envy (fol. 54) and Guillaume de Digulleville and Lust (fol. 66v), Pilgrimage of Human Life (BNF Fr. 376), second quarter of the 15th century
- Drawing of a mask in the form of a human face by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1496
- Three couples in a circle dance and Masquerade, c. 1515
- An illustration for Freydal: a group of three women and three masked men are dancing in a circle; outside the circle three masked men bearing torches, by Albrecht Dürer, 1516
- The Battle of Carnival and Lent by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1559; see details here and here
- Carnival man with blue mask (fol. 219v) and a man in a costume with the fur of a bear, a mask of a pig’s head, and carrying a small figure of a fool (fol. 268r), Nuremburg Shrovetide Carnival (1449-1539) Schembartsbuch (Douce 346), c. 1590-1640
- Man and woman in carnival dress, Venice, 1591, from the Album Amicorum of Jan van der Deck
- The Masquerades, by Jacob de Gheyn II, 1595-1596; see British Museum 1878,0713.2626, 1878,0713.2627, 1878,0713.2629, 1878,0713.2630, 1878,0713.2631, 1878,0713.2633
- A ball at the time of the Carnival by Jan Harmensz Muller, 16th-17th century
- Masked revellers in Venice during Carnival by Giacomo Franco, 1610
- A series of prints with caricatures and costumes, by Francesco Bertelli, c. 1638-1650: British Museum
1881,1008.69,
1881,1008.71,
1881,1008.72,
1881,1008.73,
1881,1008.74,
1881,1008.76,
1881,1008.78,
1881,1008.77,
1881,1008.79,
1881,1008.81,
1881,1008.82
- Zeus and Mercury at the dice-game, c. 1650-1675
- Alexander Peden's mask and wig, c. 1670s-1680s (detail; additional views 1c 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7)
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