The Masque of Blackness was an early Jacobean era masque.


The masque was written by Ben Jonson at the request of Anne of Denmark, the queen consort of King James I, who wished the masquers to be disguised as Africans. Anne was one of the performers in the masque along with her court ladies, and appeared in blackface makeup. The plot of the masque follows the ladies arriving at the English Court to be "cleansed" of their blackness by King James.

The Masque of Beauty was written as a sequel to The Masque of Blackness.