Description

The Painted Doctor mask…

The medic of the plague (or Doctor of the plague) is a Venetian mask that quickly spread to many other countries. The mask is the first prototype of an “antigas” mask in the sense that the long nose was filled with aromatic herbs to filter the miasma coming from the sick. The eyes were also covered with pieces of glass that served as glasses. The plague doctor’s terrifying appearance served to scare away evil spirits, which were then believed to be the cause of the disease. On this Venetian mask is reproduced, painted by hand, the “Industrious doctor” of Grevembroch, which is located in the Correr Museum, in Venice. See other original Venetian masks in the category Doctors of the Plague.