The Plague Doctor

The Plague Doctor (c) Heather Landry AKA Sandpaperdaisy

Here he is! My first brand-new piece for Night Gallery 2013. If Wikipedia is to be trusted, the beaks these doctors wore were full of straw and herbs to try and keep them from breathing in the “bad air” thought to cause the plague, and their sticks were used to examine plague sufferers without touching them. One image source claimed the sticks were also used to prod plague victims away if they tried to get too close. (Such as Doc is doing here) Some patients, thinking they were ill because of sins on their conscience, reportedly asked the doctor to whip them.

I’ve seen a couple of depictions of them carrying censers too, so I’ve included some smoke. Hope you like it!