Random Article Summary #47

The Masque of Beauty was a performance written by Ben Jonson and performed in London's Whitehall Palace in 1608. It was a sequel to a previous masque called the Masque of Blackness, which had been performed three years earlier. In the Masque of Beauty, the characters from the previous masque were shown without the black pigment they had worn before. The performance took place in the refurbished banqueting hall of the palace. The Masque of Beauty was performed by Queen Anne and her court, which included sixteen court ladies. The masquers wore orange-tawny and silver or sea-green and silver costumes, while the torchbearers were dressed as Cupids. The masque received praise from the King and drew controversy regarding which foreign ambassadors were invited. The Venetian ambassador described the masque as "great golden" and attributed it to Anne of Denmark. Jewels played a significant role in the costume of the masquers, adding a luminous quality to their garments. The value of the jewels worn by some women exceeded £100,000, with Anne of Denmark wearing a necklace that had once belonged to Mary I of England. The cost of producing the masque was £4000, which was a substantial sum considering the House of Stuart's annual budget deficit of £140,000. The Masque of Beauty was published in 1608 by Thomas Thorpe along with The Masque of Blackness. Both masques were later reprinted in Jonson's works in 1616. In 1609, Antimo Galli published a collection of poems which included stanzas about the guests and participants in the masque.