Venetian Masks

The art we’re going to be talking about is the “Venetian Masks” and it comes from Italy – Venice.

History Venetian masks are a centuries-old tradition of

Venice, Italy. The masks are typically worn during the Carnevale (Carnival of Venice), but have been used on many other occasions in the past, usually as a device for hiding the wearer's identity and social status. The mask would permit the wearer to act more freely in cases where he or she wanted to interact with other members of the society outside the bounds of identity

The Significance they have in their culture is that they are very precise with their textures and besides that masks always look elegant and they are natural colors

The materials that the venetian people use to make the masks are according to what level of the population they are from. Normal people make it out of normal materials like plastic with some feathers and paint. But royal people would have it made out of gold or silver and might have pearls and diamonds on them.

The Unique art of this culture is their traditional and historic Venetian Carnival Masks. Old times the venetian masks were made out of porcelain which was very expensive and very breakable, not everyone could afford it and that meant only the royal people could afford getting them and wearing them. Nowadays if you go to a mask shop and most but all the masks would be made out of plastic.

Colombina a (means "little dove" in Italian) is a comic servant character from the Commedia dell'Arte. Colombina was usually dressed in a ragged and patched dress appropriate to a hired servant. Occasionally, under the name Arlecchina she would wear motley similar to her counterpart Arlecchino. She was also known to wear heavy makeup around her eyes and carry a tambourine which she could use to fend off the amorous advances of Pantalone. She was often the only functional intellect on the stage. Colombina aided her mistress, the inamorata to gain the affections of her one true love by manipulating Arlecchino and counter-plotting against Pantalone while simultaneously managing the whereabouts of the inamorato.

Volto (means face in Italian) also known as the Citizen mask, because it was worn by the common people during all Holidays since ancient time: S. Marco's day, Sensa feast day, S. Vito and Modesto, S. Stefano

festivities are only a few examples.

Bibliography• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_mask• http://www.maskitalia.com/• http://www.1001venetianmasks.com/• http://www.visionsofvenice.com/shop.asp?cat=1