Visard
Videos
A visard, also known as a vizard, is an oval mask of black velvet which was worn by travelling women in the early modern period to protect their skin from sunburn, as a tan suggested that the bearer w
A 16th-century woman wears a visard while riding with her husband.
A woman wearing a visard, as engraved by Abraham de Bruyn in 1581.
A woman wearing a moretta muta appears in this 1751 painting by Pietro Longhi.
Dancers with visards, The Dowager of Bilbao's Grand Ball, 1626, by Daniel Rabel
Masque
Videos
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio. A masque inv
Visard
…the early modern period to protect their skin from sunburn, as a tan suggested that the bearer worked outside and was hence poor. Performers in court masques also disguised themselves with masks called visards, recorded in England as early as 1377. Visards were either held in place by a fastening or ribbon…
Costume for a Knight, by Inigo Jones: the plumed helmet, the "heroic cuirass" in armour and other conventions were still employed for opera seria in the 18th century.