Bauta
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Bemberg_Fondation_Toulouse_-_Femme_%C3%A0_la_Bautta_-_Alessandro_Longhi_-_Inv.1028.jpg/220px-Bemberg_Fondation_Toulouse_-_Femme_%C3%A0_la_Bautta_-_Alessandro_Longhi_-_Inv.1028.jpg)
The Bauta (emphasis on ù) is a garment from the Venetian Carnival . Outside of the carnival, the Bauta served the Venetian city nobility, especially in the 18th century, as a “social mask” and a standardized means of anonymization . Wearing them was compulsory for participation in certain political decision-making processes and had a function similar to that of secret voting in elections in modern democratic states.
Appearance
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Ca%27_Rezzonico_-_La_venditrice_di_essenze_-_Pietro_Longhi.jpg/170px-Ca%27_Rezzonico_-_La_venditrice_di_essenze_-_Pietro_Longhi.jpg)
The Bauta was originally a short cape with lace embroidery and a black silk hood, which was worn over the white cape , the tabarro. With this disguise and the white mask that almost covered your face, you could wander around unrecognized. The construction mask covered the entire face, had no mouth and had a pronounced chin area. Some of the Bautas were gilded. Today, the name Bauta refers almost exclusively to the face mask . The protruding chin makes it possible to eat and drink under the mask.
Bauta and Tabarro were worn by men and women, the official salutation for a mask wearer was "Siôra Maschera" ("mistress mask") regardless of gender.
Mask makers were so popular that mask makers had their own guild as early as the 15th century. Some of the costumes were taken from the Commedia dell'arte , the famous impromptu theater that was performed on the campuses.
Web links
- Venetian masks (Italian)
- Bauta as a historical means of anonymization (German and English)
- Carolyn Braun: The Mask of the Honorable (Article in the business magazine "Brand eins") ( Memento from November 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ignatio Toscani: The Venetian society mask. An attempt to interpret their form, their origins and their function. Dissertation Saarbrücken 1970
- ↑ http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-venetian-masks.htm
- ↑ http://wonders24.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!7048DCA3408D748C!954.entry
- ↑ http://www.scienzz.de/magazin/art5635.html
- ↑ Ignatio Toscani: The Venetian society mask. An attempt to interpret their form, their origins and their function. Dissertation Saarbrücken 1970