Putti with giant mask frightening other children

Lemens, Balthasar van, after

Mezzotint on paper of a cupid or putti wearing a large mask frightening three other children, engraved and published by John Smith (1652-1743) in London between 1681 and 1729. It is a copy of a painting by Balthasar van Lemens (1637-1704). A young boy holding a mask was a common classical motif, see for example the Statue of a Young Satyr Wearing a Theater Mask of Silenos (c. 1st century AD) at the Art Institute of Chicago (4.2014).