Title: Before the Ball

Artist: François de Troy

Title: Before the Ball Date: 1735 Artist: Jean-François de Troy (French, 1679–1752) Medium: Oil on canvas Description: A mood of anticipation pervades this scene in which revelers prepare for a ball, donning voluminous cloaks, called dominoes, and masks to conceal their identities. This work and its pendant, After the Ball (private collection), are tableaux de mode (fashion pictures), a term coined in the eighteenth century to describe Jean-François de Troy’s images of elite leisure. They are pictures of fashion not only in terms of the attire depicted but also in the representation of interior furnishings, luxury objects, and even comportment.