Masquerades – masked and costumed balls with a scandalous undercurrent of sexual freedom – were both popular and castigated in the eighteenth century. Attendees ranged from prostitutes plying for trade to the Prince of Wales. Rowlandson here shows a group of women putting on fancy dress in a disordered room which reflects the disreputable nature of the event. Purchased by George IV when Prince of Wales, 1790 Cat. 31