Gustavus Hamilton, Second Viscount Boyne, in Masquerade Costume

1730–31

Pastel on paper, laid down on canvas, 22 1/4 × 16 7/8 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

An Irish visitor in Carnival dress, drawn by the Venetian pastellist visiting foreigners sat for: the souvenir portrait as Rococo art.

Look at

Pastel does two things here: rubbed smooth on the face, dragged in open strokes down the cloak.
One block of turquoise against a grey ground and the black of hat and veil; the pushed-up mask and the lace at the throat are the two white notes.
A bust that fills the sheet, turned three-quarters with the eyes on the viewer and nothing behind: the likeness is the whole picture.

He spent the Carnival seasons of 1730 and 1731 in Venice with Edward Walpole; mask, veil, tricorne and short cape make up the bautta.
Bought by the Met in 2002; the museum counts it among her best-preserved works of these years.

Pastel: sticks of powdered pigment drawn directly on paper, so the colour sits on the surface as powder.