Why Were Masks So Popular in Medieval Venice?
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- Опубликовано: 1 июл 2021
- I'm in Venice now and this is such a perfect opportunity to talk about the absolutely mind blowing tradition of Venetian masks! Why were they used? Why was Venice called "the masked city?"
Masks have always been an important feature of the Venetian carnival. Traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival of Santo Stefano (St. Stephen's Day, December 26) and the end of the carnival season at midnight of Shrove Tuesday (movable, but during February or early March). As masks were also allowed on Ascension and from October 5 to Christmas, people could spend a large portion of the year in disguise.
Maskmakers (mascherari) enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own guild, with their own statute dated 10 April 1436. Mascherari belonged to the fringe of painters and were helped in their task by sign-painters who drew faces onto plaster in a range of different shapes and paying extreme.
Venetian masks can be made of leather, porcelain or using the original glass technique. The original masks were rather simple in design, decoration, and often had a symbolic and practical function. Nowadays, most Italian masks are made with the application of gesso and gold leaf and are hand-painted using natural feathers and gems to decorate.[citation needed] However, this makes them rather expensive when compared to the widespread, low-quality masks produced mainly by American factories. This competition accelerates the decline of this historical craftsmanship peculiar to the city of Venice.
So, in other words, Medieval Venice was basically 4chan irl with complete anonymity.
Oh god, this makes more sense than it should!
Bruh
Can you imagine /b/ in real life?
@@AXEL-fg5gi it is real life
Makes sense consider how the Venitians did a lot of trolling, they stole bodies of saints, sacked Constantinople and traded with the Muslim world.
Me who never knew masks were popular in Venice: *Yes I would like to know the answer to this burning question.*
uninteligent
Tomas was just following orders
me who played ac
How would you NOT know? Venetian masks are very popular everywhere nowadays
@@LordVader1094 that's what i was wondering, who doesn't know about the carnival and the masks?
The plague doctor suits actually did help protect the doctor usually, but often, unfortunately, they would touch the outside of the clothing and get infected from time to time.
I still think it's kind of impressing, that even while getting things wrong, some of their concepts were at least partially right and did help at least to some extend.
If I remember correctly, the flowers were actually used to counter the stench of the corpses.
@@orenjineko646 For sure, that's part of the Miasma theory. But the fact they were actually filtering the air out, even just a bit, and the plague was more contact than airborn, these outfits actually ended up protecting the doctors so long as they were careful about handlign the robes. Most of them started to figure out touching things plagued people touched was bad pretty early on, hence their leather gloves.
PLague doctors had a nasty habbit of spreading the plague around in cities a bit though, since they were protected and didn't wash their outfits between seeing patients.
@@ArkinMC Including bloodletting. It actually did help with starving infections of blood iron to grow.
@@ArkinMC well Trial and Error will get you improvement over time. To be completely honest, it's how we got to now, when you think about it realisitically.
"I have distilled an elixir of lead and pomegranate!"
--a doctor
---trust him, he's a doctor
Trust the science.
Darkest Dungeon vibes.
Ezio: Idk this guy seems legit
NOO POMEGRANATE!!!!
he seems trustworthy he's a doctor
Venice is an incredible city, I've been meaning to go back for years now. I still have a mask made in the traditional methods, and the man who made it showed me around his workshop and explained in detail the craft. Personally, I think the Bauta is my favourite.
Do you remember the name of the location? Sounds like a great place.
Yeah if you could drop the name thatd be cool
Drop the name!
Here for the name of the shop 👀
I’ve always been fascinated by Venice since a child, and was the reason why I took Italian in high school 😂
I don't dare go back. I spent a fortune there and bought the most beautiful masks. The Medusa mask is my favorite.
Me: trying to write some code.
RUclips: "Why were masks so popular in medieval venice?"
Me: "Interesting, this could help me concentrate afterwards."
Did it work? Hahaha
So many D&D ideas hit me after watching this video. Great stuff
yessss. A mystery to be solved in a city full of masks. Intrigue, blood and glamour.
I'm thinking I might use something like this in a Pathfinder campaign sometime.
Your players will burn it down...
@@RicardoMoralesMassin it does sound cool, but do I get to throw a fire spell on a gunpowder depot?
oh the SCANDALS heh
“Give someone a mask and they’ll show their true face”
Interestingly, "Volto" comes from the same root as "Visage", both from the Latin word "visus". Coincidentally, the dichotomy of "face" vs "visage" that we have in English mirrors the dichotomy of "faccia" vs "volto". Face is more common as a word, whereas visage is more poetic, the same goes for the Italian words.
In German both the common term "Gesicht" and the more poetic "Antlitz" are from Proto-Western Germanic, not Latin.
However there is also the term "Visage". It also describes the face but the connotation is totally different then English "visage". Used only as part of an insult.
Volto does not come from the Latin visus but the Latin vultus. Both visus and vultus do come from the same root in proto indo European though, "to see"
Well, Volto doesn't come from the Latin word "Visus", it comes from "Vultus".
The word "Visus" originated the Italians word "Viso" that has the same connotations of visage!
Funny how we all have such old commonality
In Brazilian Portuguese we have "rosto" (more formal) and "cara" (informal, which also means "guy") as common words, while "face" is more poetic
"Everyone in Venice was wearing masks for anonymity, and could speak and act freely."
Sounds like Venice was the 4Chan of the Middle Ages LOL.
Or a furry convention lasting hundreds of years
Speaks and act freely in this case = free to engage in dubious dealings and indulgence.
@@101jir By the way speaking of which, Furry Suits is a very expensive hobby in general especially if one wants to create a new one whole suit piece and head piece each year while also cleaning maintenance is required often as it collects allergens and dust real fast in closets and oh boy! one really needs a big dedicated closet for furry suits and head swaps.
as the austrian author friedrich torberg in "Die Tante Jolesch" wrote: "Alle Städte sind gleich, nur Venedig is a bissele anders!" (All cities are the same. Only Venice is an teenie-weenie bit different1"
A visitor to Venice during the period when mask wearing was at the height of its popularity said that it made it feel like a city of ghosts.
Venice had basically become a financial backwater by then so it was decaying and horrifically degenerate at the same time. People only came there because it was a beautiful wreck or to have any kind of sex and gambling they could dream up.
Spirited Away vibes
I love Venice. And I would recommend everybody to go there. But remember: Please don't go there on a cruise! It's really bad for the city's foundations. And by by, say staing there for a night or two you can see more of it and expirience it by night.
And as a little bonus: The good people of Venice actually make some money this way.
They're not letting the cruise ships go so close to the city anymore.
They wanted to live incognito. Love it
Curious that in Italy "dama'' is apparently an older or fancier way to say lady, in portuguese we use the word like that all the time.
Same in Spanish, of course.
In Italian though the word for “woman” is “Donna” and I’m guessing both dama and donna come from Latin “domina” which has been kept in Spanish and Portuguese
@@Earthstorm84 en español donna es doña y significa Mrs, Miss o lady. ¡Muy interesante cómo idiomas son similares!
In Spanish donna is doña and it means Mrs, Miss or lady. Very interesting how languages are similar!
In french and english too “dame”!
Same in French, "dame" is still used, though either to mention an old lady or when talking to kids, like "watch out for the dame, honey" when a child isn't paying attention in the street and almost bumps into a woman, for example.
I had an inkling of an idea of how masks are tied to Venice, one of my favorite books as a kid “City Of Masks” in the Stravaganza series is based on an alternate version of Venice with a female ruler called a Duchessa who wears a mask for the rest of her reign and my grandparents brought home a miniature Jester mask from when they actually visited Venice, but I didn’t know there were other types!
such a beautiful video babes! the color and craftsmanship of these masks are just.....wow! 🤩
@@sarumanthewise8511 thank you so much! hope you and yours are well too!
Thank you! Tomorrow we can go back to the mask shop :D
Good day, Lady Metatron. *tips hat
I hope after Metatron told the background history you will represent an athentic venetian fashion show, I am waiting it eagerly!;)
@@sarumanthewise8511 You shall not pass!
this topic was my interest for a while but failed to find the satisfying reason why this culture was famous in Venice for myself but this.....
i want to thank Meratron for scratching the itchy part
I've been collecting masks since I was 13. I think I might have an overload from excitement in Venice.
Haha, I'm sure you’d have a blast of a fun time there!
"Venice is an absolute Jewel" I see what you did there. Very masked of you.
In fairness to the plague doctor mask - it DID help, even if not for the reasons the physicians of the time understood the exact why and how of it all...
True. But while plague doctors rarely got infected themselves, they would often infect others.
@@raneknudsen4785 This is true - but nevertheless, the mask protected the wearer. Would that they'd had germ theory at the time...
they had germ theory at that time in history, only it was scoffed at and had you burned at the stake for expressing miasma hesitancy.
@@mgntstr I stand corrected... though, in practice, Europe didn't have germ theory at the time, owing to said stake burnings. :P
Bubonic plague is mainly spread by infected fleas from small animals. It may also result from exposure to the body fluids from a dead plague-infected animal.
Simply touching the cloak wouldnt do ANYTHING to infect you unless it was covered with pus, and they didnt get close enough to patients to have that happen.
So their outfits did nothing
They would bring it home and in its folds would be fleas and the fleas would still infest the home and bite the doctor.
I found it pretty cool that "dama" is Italian for "lady", as it is also "the lady" in my local Norwegian dialect.
I feel a special interest coming on…
Also I’m upset that we don’t have a television series set in Venice during this time period. Someone make this happen!
If Netflix’s Bridgerton could be made, why can't we have a historical fantasy period drama of Venetian life as well?
@@raisyrosye7656 yassss!
@@MysticHeather Haha, let’s ✨manifest✨ it.
@@raisyrosye7656 yesssss
been to Venice once (and it was during carnival). It was just so beautiful. I need to go back someday!!!
You live in such an incredible place. I was in Italy a couple years back but didn’t make it to Venice. I have to say that in all the countries we went to, the Italians were the kindest and most generous. I wasn’t expecting that tbh. Beautiful country- beautiful people.
Grz mille! (Tks) ❤
I loved this vid! I wanna go to Venice now and see the masks.
Please do!
Even without the masks Venice is still worth a visit. It's the most beautiful city I've ever been to. Go to Venice, see it with your own eyes. No photograph or video will ever be able to capture the true beauty of that place.
And unique in that the roads are aquatic
I was in Venice a few years ago and I was amazed. As a person who love history (from ancient Greece / Rome to modern times) I really enjoyed the stay there. We went to Venice from Chioggia by boat and I was even more amazed when we landed in the port near San Marco. I can imagine how breathtaking it was for foreign merchants when they landed there during the golden age of Venice.
I remember Venencia in Assassins Creed 2
Yep!
Best AC
Ah the memories
These are the questions that keep me up at night.
Me before watching this: ''I have to visit Venice someday''
Me after watching this: ''I NEED TO GO NOW! THIS IS MY FATE, MY DESTINY!!!''
Thanks a lot for this awesome, informative video. This is the best info i ever found about masks in Venice! Thank you a thousand times.
So so magical mysterious beautiful.I need to go back.But definitely during the mask festival.My mask.La Gatto.
What a lovely random recommendation by RUclips this was! I absolutely love masks in general, but Venetian ones in particular. I don't know much about their history, but their aesthetics have always fascinated me. The Venice festival is on my absolute bucket list, although I don't know if my heart could handle so much beauty. Thank you for this brief an very entertaining history and art lesson.
"Se devo scegliere fra la birra e le donne perché devo scegliere"
A wise shirt wore by a wise man
This topic was always interesting to me since I saw Count Of Montecristo at a young age.
I wonder what metatrons opinion is on the assassin's Creed 2 versions of Florence and Venice
I can’t help but think of assassin‘s creed 2 every time I see Venice, I’ve never been but I have so many memories of it.
Now I’ve got to go watch Eyes Wide Shut again.
ALL they wore were masks!
Now that you mention it, I might watch it again too.
Me too. That movie is hypnotic as fuck.
I gotta travel to Venice find some of these masks.
Precioso metatron! Muy precioso!
I typed in spanish just because you speak italian and both are alike
I had known about some of the History of Venice being called "The Masked City". So when I was in Italy for a short time, and visited Venice, I bought a mask. It looked much more like the Japanese Men-po, so I used it for a Samurai Costume I built for Halloween.
"Il Gatto"
Ah, yes.
Historical proof that catgirl cosplayers have always been a thing and not just a modern creation. Just what I wanted to learn today.
Really want some of those mask, btw.
For completeness, there's a third word to indicate "face" in italian, and is "Viso".
One of my favorites places in the world, the home of one of the best adventures (and musician, spies, lover, politician, lottery inventor, etc.) of the world, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova.
"Casanova" became a Word with its own meaning in italian because of that man!
(A Casanova Is someone Who Is adventurous and carismatic at the same time, altought It can have negative connotations)
I've been to Venice once. It's easily the most beautiful city I've ever been to. If you haven't been there, believe me, you will not regret going there. You will never be able to appreciate just how incredibly beautiful everything is without going there... And it's so refreshing to be in a place without cars. I still have a pen that I bought there all those years ago, and never used because I was too afraid to break it lol. Guess I need to change that and actually use it... And, when this virus crap is over, I really need to go visit that city again. But, be warned, the city is filled with beggars. Most of them belonging to gangs that take all their money, so giving them money doesn't actually help them, it just helps criminals. So think about that before you give them money. It's sad that things like this happen, but with the amount of tourists there it's such a lucrative business that it will probably only get more and not less...
@Questa Semplice Animazione that's awesome. Back when I went to Venice it was filled with beggars. At every single corner there was at least one...
Love those Venetians, they get sh*t DONE.
I have a real mask I got in Venice of a golden lion, it's beautiful
I also have one, with curled horns and butterflies.
Aww, I want to buy one so badly and desperately now! 😂✋
Thanks so much for posting this. I've been fascinated with these masks for some time.
I loved this ! Something different and I really always wondered about the provenance. Thanks!
While the plague doctor's mask was historically used, it actually isn't medieval. It only begun to be used in the 17th century, which was by the way a time when the Plague became pretty much endemic in europe, lots of local outbreaks coming every few years, instead of just a few large pandemics as it was in the medieval era.
I was coming into the comments to say just this!
Why do these masks make me think of Dungeons and Dragons? Why am I such a nerd?
But seriously, The masks here would be great for a political setting in a fantasy world, where everyone is wearing a mask for a variety of reasons. Plus, they just look amazing. You Italians are just amazing in general.
How wonderfully intriguing, thank you for this video.
great video! thank you for the great details.
My daughter needs to see this. These tend to be poorly represented in wall art in the U S of A.
Often masks are part of a school project. My daughter really got into it.
Art is best appreciated with contextual history in mind.
is "faccia" and "volto" equivalent of what in spanish would be "cara" and "rostro"?
yes
Yes, but the most equivalent of faccia would be facha, or fachada, the face of the house
@@sirchafa8472
Wat
Sounds like a lot of fun was had, adding Venice to my time travel list.
I hope the carnival next year can take place in all its splendor and italian nd foreigner travellers can come and enjoy 😥🤞🤞🤞
I just remembered the Water 7 city structure in One Piece. Now I know why they wear masks there
😍😍😍
"Dama" is also a polish word for "lady".
So's in Spanish :0
Also, "Dame" means lady in french
Dame is used in English now and then, except the “a” is pronounced like you would pronounce “fame”, it means the same thing as all the other languages
And probably Portuguese and Rumanian too. Romance languages are very similar.
Also in Russian. Btw isn’t Dame an English female equivalent of a Lord nowadays? Like Dame Judy Dench?
Great info Metatron. Very informative 👍
Great vid, very informative!
In Greek "volta" means "going for a chill walk". It's probably Italian and am wondering if "Volta" has anything to do with "volto" face. (But also wearing a mask and going for a walk). Dama is also the woman partner in dance in our vocabulary.
Can you do a video on the war of the fists(Robert C. Davis) ? Where venetians fought on top of a bridge, sometimes with sticks and bucklers. Very elaborate, even became a game and affected the modern era, as singing to make fun of the other team in football soccer.
I really like this type of video from you!
I looooove it! Thank you very much for sharing with all of us your venitian adventure ! Bisous from Alsace 😁😍😘🤗
Venice is just unreal. Coming in via train and just seeing these buildings on water
As soon as you exit the train station you are like WOW
I personally really like masks, just on an aesthetic level.
Beautiful photography! Excellent colors, and high quality masks!TH U!
My (late) grandmother had a few wall masks which resembled these Venetian ones and I had no clue what they were until today. I thought with her black fishing boat on orange background paintings they were far eastern.
Of course, yes I could have asked her about them. Maybe I DID once BUT It was too long again to remember and it is lost to local family history.
now that you did this video we need you to comment on how accurate the representation of 15th century Venice is in Assassin's Creed 2
In Edo or it was Kyoto there were a period where they use mask for similar purposes
Oh, really? I'd love to hear more about it if you don't mind sharing some of your knowledge with me!
Very interesting! I enjoyed every bit of it, complimenti!
Great video, thank you!
I think the modern western world could do with a touch of this magestic attire.
We are so boring
Imagine being a dude with a distinctive voice or body and getting recognized.
So very interesting! Thank you.
So interesting !!!!
Please make more videos on Venice !!
Salve Metatron! Would love to see a collab between you and Tasting History, he has a wonderful collection of ancient Roman cuisine videos on his channel that I think you would love!
Masks! My favorite! Squeal!
I am making a place like this in my stories. 100%
Are you a writer?
Thanks, Raff, for this excellent introduction to a fascinating topic I know little about, and congratulations on your engagement!
Peace... ☝️😎
Un vídeo muy interesante. Te agradezco esta aportación.
To hide the damage from Syphilis would be my guess.
That's what I was wondering, to hide pox or syphilis damage?
we're going to need to bring these back
under the surveillance state system.
I'm not wearing the mask for COVID which has a >98% survival rate.
I'm wearing a mask for facial recognition technology.
@@Marinealver Air/ heating conditioning for shopping stores messes with me sinuses and cause me to have running noise, so I'm stuck wearing masks when shopping. Both of my grand parents had that same problem with .. dry air.
Yeah, I think so too. Although making each mask unique probably defeats the purpose. An eInk mask whose pattern can be changed would be super-cool.
Good description of the variety of masks.
This was an amazing video! I never knew about the mask tradition in Venice before. It also must have been one of the inspirations for Olais in Dragon Age. Oh and of course all the masks you featured were gorgeous. I was especially mesmerized by the lady with the peacock one, It was so beautiful.
My mother owns a beautiful joster mask she bought in Venice few years ago and to this day I like to go to her room and just look at that mask because it is just so beautiful. I am planning to go to Venice one more time and buy one for myself. Also thank you for great video
Ooh, la la, now, I want to buy a Venetian mask as well! I just love the concept of having an alter ego because everyone’s got a secretive side to them that they don't want others to know!
The Plague doctor beak mask dates from the 17th century, so although it was worn during several outbreaks of the bubonic plague but not during the Black Death pandemic of the 14th century, it's not Medieval ;)
Interesting that you look at this in 2021, as over the course of the pandemic I realized I liked wearing a mask as people won't see my face, or notice my expressions. Not that it is a huge deal, but not having to smile at random people i'm walking by is just ever so more convenient. Plus I don't have to shave every single day.
But your eyes are visible, unless you wear sunglasses, and eyes are the easiest way to spot different expressions.
A refreshing , informative & relaxing study of Venetian Masks tutorial indeed! Thank You So Much for the effort & for sharing! Stay Safe & Stay Grateful! 🌷🌿🌍💖
Viso: "am I a joke to you?"
I am studying Latin (thank you for some of inspiration btw) with the hopes of someday studying Italian as well. I thought it was funny that Italian has two words for face like Latin does. Facies and vultus. I dont think spanish has two words for face does any of the other Romance languages? You Italians have such a leg up when learning Latin....I guess that makes sense. Haha
In spanish you have "cara" that is the common word for face, and in a more formal or poetic way "rostro", the two words means the same but you would not hear "rostro" very often.
The Greeks have 8 words for love
@@elshebactm6769 super interesting I am going to look into the etymology of those words
@@monalisadavinci7076 I've thought about studying Epic or Attic Greek but it makes Latin look easy lol
Just as spanish, portuguese also has more than one word for face. We have 'face', of course, but also 'cara' and 'rosto'. Their use is context dependant, but the most common word for us would be 'rosto', while we usually reserve 'cara' for more coloquial use, but it's mostly used for an animal's face, haha. 'Face' is like a more technical term, but it can also sound poetic, in a less romantic manner.
Back in college I made a bauta mask for an art project. Its... a bit lumpy in places, but darn it i was quite proud!
(I was using it more for symbolism of a wish to be seen yet anonymous anyway... the stand i made for it was amazing.)
Indeed very interesting. I learned a lot. I have always enjoyed the wide & unique variety of designs just an imagination can be forever.
Thanks for the presentation.
are you trying to seduce us, Metatron? x'D
"Venice was the capital of the Maritime Empire of Venice"
Hmm yes the floor here is made out of floor.
Well actually the floor is made out of water
Rome was the capital of Roman Empire. So they have a tradition of "what it says on the tin".
I mean not even uncommon today, Mexico City is the capital of the United Mexican States, Basilia is the capital of the Federative Republic of Brazil
Loved this video Raph! makes me wonder more about the character of the jester just in general during medieval times and how they were involved in society, either all across europe or just in one region
Metatron/Raph Congratulations on your engangement . So good for you and the woman you love … . And thanks for another great video Raph… Just great another master piece about history..
There had to have been a social agreement to pretend, to a an extent, besides just wearing masks. I mean, surely, if you are walking around being clearly a - lets say - young, tall man and wearing the colors and jewellery of House So-and-So, everyone would be able to guess who you are.
Like at the dance where Romeo and Juliet met?
Usually with the mask people wore the same outfit.
Foreign narrators of that time talks about Venice in nigh as a "city of ghost".
They wore black cloaks (tabarro or tabarri --> plural)
It's depressing to think that the city is sinking under its own weight. And in the future, with or without global warming, it will be flooded permanently
It really is
What a beautiful video. Grazie!
Because they are wonderful and fun!
I'll answer your question with another question.
Why do people wear fursuits?
The Furries ~ another incognito trend
Short answer: Because they can
Long answer: Because they have the money and/or skill to make them
people wear fursuits in their daily lives? I mean I guess its not forbidden, but where exactly is an entire city filled with furries who wear or wore their suits every day?
@@Apokalypse456 it is forbidden in many places around the world!
Not because of fur, but because hiding your face is illegal!
Driving, partaking in demonstrations, etc. Have even strikter rules regarding this topic!
And there is the social stigma, thanks to 4chan spreading the misbelieve that furries are creepy sexual deviants
And then there is the problem of fursuit mainemtance. Wearing it daily would wear it out very quickly. They are not like a porcelain mask that you just have to wipe down after wearing...
The full-face masks reach the Uncanny Valley.
I've been there as a kid once but I really want to see the carnival and dress up. The masks and costumes are gorgeous.
I visited Venice about eight years ago. I already had seen pictures and was sort of knowing a little of its beauty, but experiencing the place was overwhelming. "Impressed" describes only a bit of what I felt being in there. It's a majestic treasure!
I had no idea that masks were so popular back in the day. Excellent video 😃👍
By the way, I suddenly have a thirst for amontillado 🙊