Masks for the Palace Ball

A stone palace on a starry night, readied for a masked ball across six rooms. Upstairs on the left, a portrait gallery in deep red has a gentleman holding a mask to a painting while another man peers closer, with a plumed mask on a pedestal. In the middle, a lady in a plum gown fixes her mask at a mirrored dressing table as a maid rummages in a cupboard. At the right, a green parlour has a man reading a letter on a sofa beneath hanging keys. Downstairs, a cloakroom has a masked clerk, coat pegs and masked portraits; a grand ballroom has a couple dancing on a round stage under a chandelier; and a mask workshop has two men studying masks hung on a wall. The chandelier and the plum gown glow against the darker walls, bright points in a palace of masks.