This webpage shows different styles of masks, and demonstrates the purposes for which masks were worn in the late Middle Ages, as well as a few metaphorical depictions of masks.

For more links on masks and mask-making, click here; for Renaissance-era examples, see the inspiration for a 16th century mask.

• Leather masks from Novgorod, 12th-14th centuries (see Letters from Old Russia, State Historical Museum, and Birchbark Letters)
• Feast for the wedding of Fauvel, The Romance of Fauvel (BNF Fr. 146, fols. 34, 34v, and 36v), c. 1320
• The Romance of Alexander (Bodl. 264), 1338-1344, fols. 21v, 70r, 117v, and 181v
The Mair and Aldermen chargen on þe Kynges byhalf, and þis Cite, þat no manere persone, of what astate, degre, or condicioun þat euere he be, duryng þis holy tyme of Cristemes be so hardy in eny wyse to walk by nyght in eny manere mommyng, pleyes, enterludes, or eny oþer disgisynges with eny feynyd berdis, peyntid visers, diffourmyd or colourid visages in eny wyse, up peyne of enprisonement of her bodyes, and macyng fyne aftir þe discrecioun of þe Mair and Aldremen; outake þat hit be leful to eche persone for to be honestly mery as he can, with in his owne hous dwellyng.

Proclamation at Christmas, 1418
6 Henry V. A.D. 1418. Letter-Book I. fol. ccxxiii.

• Treason (with Envy and Criticism) in The Pilgrimage of Human Life (Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève 1130, fol. 55), c. 1367-1399
• The Final Section, Devoted to Methods of Casting from Cennini's Libro dell'Arte, early 15th century
• Guillaume de Digulleville and Envy (fol. 54) and Guillaume de Digulleville and Lust (fol. 66v), Pilgrimage of Human Life (BNF Fr. 376), second quarter of the 15th century
• Drawing of a mask in the form of a human face by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1496
• Scene from the Commedia dell'Arte, c. 1595-1605
• Oval miniature showing a pair of horses, with driver, pulling a covered carriage containing a gentleman and a lady wearing a mask, Discours à Lesdiguiàres (British Library Harley 5256, fol. 22), 1597
• The Vanity of Women: Masks and Bustles, c. 1600
• A dance at the time of the Carnival by Jan Harmensz Muller, 16th-17th century
• The Rich Man at the Table and Lazarus at the Door by Jacob Matham (after Sebastian Vrancx), 1606
• A banquet in the countryside by Sebastiaan Vrancx
• Zeus and Mercury at the dice-game, c. 1650-1675
• Alexander Peden's mask and wig, c. 1670s-1680s (detail; additional views 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7)