Editing Masquerade ball (section)

== History ==
{{Costume}}
Masquerade balls were a feature of the [[Carnival]] season in the 15th century, and involved increasingly elaborate allegorical [[Royal Entries]], pageants, and triumphal processions celebrating marriages and other dynastic events of late medieval court life. The "[[Bal des Ardents]]" (''"Burning Men's Ball"'') was held by Charles VI of France, and intended as a ''Bal des sauvages'' (''"Wild Men's Ball"''), a form of costumed ball (''[[morisco]]''). It took place in celebration of the marriage of a [[lady-in-waiting]] of [[Charles VI of France]]'s queen in Paris on January 28, 1393. The King and five courtiers dressed as wildmen of the woods ([[woodwose]]s), with costumes of [[flax]] and [[Pitch (resin)|pitch]]. If they came too close to a torch, the dancers would catch fire. (This episode may have influenced [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s short story "[[Hop-Frog]]".) Such costumed dances were a special luxury of the [[Duchy of Burgundy|Ducal Court of Burgundy]].

Masquerade balls were extended into costumed public festivities in Italy during the 16th century Renaissance (Italian {{lang|it|maschera}}). They were generally elaborate dances held for members of the upper classes, and were particularly popular in [[Venice]]. They have been associated with the tradition of the [[Venetian Carnival]]. With the [[fall of the Venetian Republic]] at the end of the 18th century, the use and tradition of masks gradually began to decline, until they disappeared altogether.
[[Image:Masquerade ball at Château de Hattonchâtel, France 2008.jpg|right|thumb|Masquerade ball at [[Château de Hattonchâtel]], [[France]].]]

They became popular throughout mainland Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, sometimes with fatal results. In 1792 [[Gustav III of Sweden]] was assassinated at a masquerade ball by the disgruntled nobleman [[Jacob Johan Anckarström]], an event which [[Eugène Scribe]] and [[Daniel Auber]] turned into the opera ''[[Gustave III (opera)|Gustave III]]''.  The same event was the basis of [[Giuseppe Verdi]]'s opera ''[[A Masked Ball]]'', although the censors in the original production forced him to portray it as a fictional story set in Boston. Most masks came from countries like Switzerland and Italy.

A Swiss count who arrived in Italy in 1708, is credited with introducing to London the Venetian fashion of a semi-public masquerade ball, to which one might subscribe, with the first being held at [[Haymarket Theatre|Haymarket Opera House]].<ref>Aileen Ribeiro, "The exotic diversion: the dress worn at masquerades in eighteenth-century London", ''The Connoisseur'' '''197''' (January 1978:3–13.</ref> London's public gardens, like [[Vauxhall Gardens]], refurbished in 1732, and [[Ranelagh Gardens]], provided optimal outdoor settings, where characters masked and in fancy dress mingled with the crowds. The reputation for unseemly behavior, unescorted women and assignations motivated a change of name, to the Venetian {{lang|it|ridotto}}, but as "The Man of Taste" observed in 1733:

{{poemquote|In Lent, if masquerades displease the town,
Call 'em Ridottos and they still go down.}}

A standard item of masquerade dress was a "Vandyke", improvised on the costumes worn in the portraits of [[Van Dyck]]: [[The Blue Boy|Gainsborough's ''Blue Boy'']] is the most familiar example, and a reminder of the later 18th-century popularity in England for portraits in fancy dress.

Throughout the century, it is thought that masquerade dances became popular in [[Colonial America]], however, portraits featured the subjects dressed as if they were attendees, but evidence is scant, according to Jennifer Van Horn, that colonials in North Americans actually had the events.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1086/649774 | doi=10.1086/649774 | title=The Mask of Civility | date=2009 | last1=Van Horn | first1=Jennifer | journal=American Art | volume=23 | issue=3 | pages=8–35 | s2cid=222328221 }}</ref> Its prominence in England did not go unchallenged; a significant anti-masquerade movement grew alongside the balls themselves. The anti-masquerade writers (among them such notables as [[Samuel Richardson]]) held that the events encouraged immorality and "foreign influence". While they were sometimes able to persuade authorities to their views, particularly after the [[1755 Lisbon earthquake|Lisbon earthquake]] of 1755, enforcement of measures designed to end masquerades was at best desultory, and the masquerades went on as semi-private "subscriptions".<ref>Ribeiro 1978:3.</ref> In the 1770s, fashionable Londoners went to the masquerades organized by [[Teresa Cornelys]] at [[Carlisle House, Soho#Carlisle House, Soho Square|Carlisle House]] in [[Soho Square]], and later to the [[Pantheon, London|Pantheon]].

Masquerade balls were sometimes set as a game among the guests. The masked guests were supposedly dressed so as to be unidentifiable. This would create a type of game to see if a guest could determine each other's identities. This added a humorous effect to many masquerades and enabled a more enjoyable version of typical balls.

One of the most noted masquerade balls of the 20th century was that held at [[Palazzo Labia]] in [[Venice]] on 3 September 1951, hosted by [[Carlos de Beistegui]]. It was dubbed "the party of the century".<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Dunne|first1=Dominick|title=All That Glittered|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1998/08/dunne199808|magazine=Vanity Fair|access-date=18 December 2017|date=15 September 2008}}</ref>

Another famous ball was The [[Black and White Ball]]. It held on November 28, 1966, at the Plaza Hotel in [[New York City]]. Hosted by author [[Truman Capote]], the ball was in honor of the ''[[Washington Post]]'' publisher [[Katharine Graham]].<ref>Davis, Deborah (2006). ''Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and His Black and White Ball''. John Wiley & Sons. {{ISBN|978-0-470-09821-9}}.</ref>

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File:Sebastiaen Vrancx - A view of Antwerp by night with elegant figures on their way to a masquerade.jpg|Circa 1600-1646. A view of Antwerp by night with elegant figures on their way to a masquerade
File:Willem Augustin van Minderhout - Masquerade II.jpg|1740. Maquerade
File:Charles Hermans - At the masquerade.jpeg|1880. Charles Hermans - ''At the masquerade''

</gallery>