Tag: Plague Doctor

Plague Doctor Clothing from The Public Domain Review

The Public Domain Review published these public domain images of plague doctors wearing what clothing they believed would protect them from the plague.

According to Wikipedia, this sort of iconic plague doctor costume was invented in 1630 by Charles de L’Orme,

The protective suit consisted of a light, waxed fabric overcoat, a mask with glass eye openings and a beak shaped nose, typically stuffed with herbs, straw, and spices. Plague doctors would also commonly carry a cane to examine and direct patients without the need to make direct contact with the patient.

The scented materials included juniper berry, ambergris, roses (Rosa), mint (Mentha spicata L.) leaves, camphor, cloves, laudanum, myrrh, and storax. Due to the primitive understanding of disease at the time, it was believed this suit would sufficiently protect the doctor from miasma while tending to patients.

Colour copper engraving of Doctor Schnabel [i.e Dr Beak], a plague doctor in seventeenth-century Rome, published by Paul Fürst, ca. 1656
Colour copper engraving of Doctor Schnabel [i.e Dr Beak], a plague doctor in seventeenth-century Rome, published by Paul Fürst, ca. 1656
Black-and-white copper engraving of Doctor Schnabel [i.e Dr Beak], a plague doctor in 17th-century Rome, ca. 1656
Black-and-white copper engraving of Doctor Schnabel [i.e Dr Beak], a plague doctor in 17th-century Rome, ca. 1656
IJsbrand van Diemerbroeck, Dutch plague doctor
IJsbrand van Diemerbroeck, Dutch plague doctor
Satirical engraving by Johann Melchior Füssli of a doctor of Marseilles clad in cordovan leather equipped with a nose-case packed with plague-repelling smoking material. With the wand he is to feel the pulse
Satirical engraving by Johann Melchior Füssli of a doctor of Marseilles clad in cordovan leather equipped with a nose-case packed with plague-repelling smoking material. With the wand he is to feel the pulse
Plague doctor: costume of death
Plague doctor: costume of death
Doctor's outfit at the Lazaret de Marseille, 1720.
Doctor’s outfit at the Lazaret de Marseille, 1720.
A physician wearing a 17th-century plague costume, as imagined in 1910
A physician wearing a 17th-century plague costume, as imagined in 1910
A physician wearing a 17th-century plague costume, as imagined in 1910
A physician wearing a 17th-century plague costume, as imagined in 1910
A Plague Doctor, from Jean-Jacques Manget, Traité de la peste (1721)
A Plague Doctor, from Jean-Jacques Manget, Traité de la peste (1721)
Doctor in plague costume during the plague epidemic of 1720 in Marseille. Drawing first published in 1826 in the Guide sanitaire des gouvernemens européens by Louis-Joseph-Marie Robert.
Doctor in plague costume during the plague epidemic of 1720 in Marseille. Drawing first published in 1826 in the Guide sanitaire des gouvernemens européens by Louis-Joseph-Marie Robert.
Jan van Grevenbroeck (1731-1807), Venetian doctor during the time of the plague. Pen, ink and watercolour on paper. Museo Correr, Venice.
Jan van Grevenbroeck (1731-1807), Venetian doctor during the time of the plague. Pen, ink and watercolour on paper. Museo Correr, Venice.