Particolare de "L'Incontro", Pietro Longhi, 1746 (Metropolitan Museum, New York)

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Part of "L'Incontro", Pietro Longhi, 1746 (Metropolitan Museum, New York)

Since the sixteenth century, Venice seems to have transferred to masks in general, rather than to any particular mask, a complex set of symbols and cultural behaviours that are in fact inseparable from the image of the city (such as the gondola or the winged lion).

However, in today's modern Carnival, the absolute lack of characterisation assumed by these masks, which are also the most photographed during Carnival, means that they are no longer considered masks, but rather disguises, as they no longer serve a mimetic or identifying function.

A centre for the production of masks since the Middle Age, and home to private collections of this kind of item (evidently prematurely freed from their theatrical functions to become carnivalesque and assume a singular aesthetic value), masks in Venice have acquired a complex set of symbologies and cultural behaviors since the sixteenth century, becoming a fundamental part of the image of the city and a symbol of its recognition (just like the gondola or winged lion). It is therefore worthwhile overcoming the initial repulsion against this subject (due to its overuse in the promotion and publi

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