The Masque of Beauty
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''The Masque of Beauty'' was a courtly
masque 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 public version of the masque was the pageant). A masque ...
written by
Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
, and performed in London's
Whitehall Palace The Palace of Whitehall (also spelt White Hall) at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, except notably Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. Hen ...
on 10 January
1608 Events January–June * January – In the Colony of Virginia, Powhatan releases Captain John Smith. * January 2 – The first of the Jamestown supply missions returns to the Colony of Virginia with Christopher Newport comman ...
. It inaugurated the refurbished banquesting hall of the palace (the predecessor of Inigo Jones' building). It was a sequel to the preceding '' Masque of Blackness'', which had been performed three years earlier, on 6 January 1605. In ''The Masque of Beauty'', the "daughters of Niger" of the earlier piece were shown cleansed of the black pigment they had worn on the prior occasion.


The show

Like its earlier companion piece, ''The Masque of Beauty'' was performed by Queen
Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
and ladies of her court, and witnessed by King
James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...
. The number of court ladies included was increased from the twelve in ''Blackness'' to sixteen. In addition to Queen Anne, the participants were the Countesses of
Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much large ...
,
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
,
Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
, and Montgomery, and the Ladies Chichester,
Walsingham Walsingham () is a civil parish in North Norfolk, England, famous for its religious shrines in honour of Mary, mother of Jesus. It also contains the ruins of two medieval Christian monasticism, monastic houses.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Exp ...
, Windsor,
Anne Clifford Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery, ''suo jure'' 14th Baroness de Clifford (30 January 1590 – 22 March 1676) was an English peeress. In 1605 she inherited her father's ancient barony by writ and became ''suo jure'' ...
, Elizabeth Girrard, Elizabeth Guilford,
Elizabeth Hatton Elizabeth, Lady Coke (née Cecil, 1578 – 3 January 1646), was an English court office holder. She served as lady-in-waiting to the queen consort of England, Anne of Denmark. She was the daughter of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, and Dorothy ...
, Mary Neville, Katherine Petre, Anne Winter, and
Arbella Stuart Lady Arbella Stuart (also Arabella, or Stewart; 1575 – 25 September 1615) was an English noblewoman who was considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I of England. During the reign of King James VI and I (her first cousin), she marrie ...
. Gossip held that the women chosen were largely
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
. The masquers wore costumes of orange-tawny and silver or sea-green and silver; the torchbearers were dressed as Cupids; the presenters of the masque were styled as Januarius, Boreas, Vulturnus, and Thamesis, and the musicians as "echoes and shades of old poets." A black curtain representing Night was withdrawn to display the masquers, assembled on a "Throne of Beauty" borne upon a floating island. The sixteen masquers executed two dances, which the King liked enough to see repeated; then they danced with male courtiers, in "galliards and corantoes." The final dances returned them to the Throne of Beauty. The choreography was by Thomas Giles, who also played Thamesis. A diplomatic controversy developed around the masque, as to which foreign ambassadors were or were not invited to attend the performance. The French ambassador
Antoine Lefèvre de la Boderie Antoine Lefèvre de la Boderie (1555-1615) was a French diplomat and ambassador to England. He was a son of Jacques Lefèvre de la Boderie and Anne de Montbray. Career Boderie was a master of household to Henry IV of France. In January 1598 he wel ...
was irate at being omitted while the Spanish Ambassador was invited. The Venetian ambassador
Zorzi Giustinian Zorzi Giustinian was an ambassador of the Republic of Venice serving in London from 1606 to 1608 and Vienna in 1618. London Giustinian arrived in London on 5 January 1606, met by the outgoing ambassador Nicolò Molin and Lewes Lewknor, the master ...
, who was invited, was among the spectators who left descriptions of the "great golden masque" they'd seen, the jewels the ladies wore, and the marvels of the
stage machinery Stage machinery, also known as stage mechanics, comprises the mechanical devices used to create special effects in theatrical productions. See also * Scenic design Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the ...
employed. He attributed the masque to Anne of Denmark, as "authoress of the whole". John Chamberlain mentioned that a lady of lesser rank than a baroness wore jewels valued more than £100,000, and Arbella Stuart and Anne of Denmark's jewels were worth as much and more. The Spanish ambassador invited the fifteen gentlewomen who had performed in the masque to dinner at the end of the month.


Costs

The embroiderer
Christopher Shawe Christopher Shawe or Shaw (died 1618) was an English embroiderer and textile artist who worked on masque costume for Anne of Denmark. He was a member of the Worshipful Company of Broderers. Career In September 1589, Shawe married Isobel Buttes, or ...
was paid £106-7s for his work on the costumes. The total cost of producing the masque was £4000. The House of Stuart was running an annual budget deficit of £140,000 in this era;Aaron, p. 83. the cost of the masque represented about 3% of the annual deficit, an enormous sum to spend on a single event.


Publication

''The Masque of Beauty'' was entered into the
Stationers' Register The Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including print ...
on 21 April 1608 and published later that year by the bookseller
Thomas Thorpe Thomas Thorpe ( 1569 – 1625) was an English publisher, most famous for publishing Shakespeare's sonnets and several works by Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. His publication of the sonnets has long been controversial. Nineteenth-century ...
, in the same volume as ''The Masque of Blackness''. Both masques were reprinted in the first folio collection of Jonson's works in 1616.


Notes


References

* Aaron, Melissa D. ''Global Economics.'' Newark, DE, University of Delaware Press, 2003. * Chambers, E. K. ''The Elizabethan Stage.'' 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923. * Logan, Terence P., and Denzell S. Smith, eds. ''The New Intellectuals: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama.'' Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1977. * Orgel, Stephen. ''Ben Jonson: The Complete Masques''. New haven, Yale University Press, 1969. * Sullivan, Mary. ''Court Masques of James I: Their Influence on Shakespeare and the Public Theatres.'' New York, Putnam, 1913.


External links


''The Masque of Beauty'' online.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masque of Beauty, The Masques by Ben Jonson English Renaissance plays 1608 plays