The only reliable image of a masquerade at the Louvre, made at the wish of Louis XIV

People had danced in masks as early as the Renaissance, but the first masked ball as we know it appeared only at the court of the young Louis XIV, and it was held in the Louvre.

The people in the centre of the hall hold hands and perform the old French folk group dance known as the branle, with alternating movements and changes of role. The dance has been known since the early Middle Ages in a great many forms, and has survived in one way or another to this day.

Before you is the only reliable depiction of a masquerade at the Louvre from that period. Whether it shows the ball of 29 January 1662, 17 February 1665 or 10 December 1668, one can say with certainty that the first court masquerades appeared only in the 1660s. It was a remarkable festivity at which the participants' faces were not merely hidden: the nobles were also free to sit where they pleased, do as they wished and converse with whomever they found interesting, as though everyone caught up in the spectacle were equal, although among them might be the king, the queen, the highest dignitaries or ladies of exalted court standing.

It is known that this depiction of the masquerade was created at the wish of King Louis XIV himself, who thought it right to leave a record of such an unusual form of festivity, born precisely during his reign.