[Ansteorra] Plague Doctor's Mask Documentation?

[~*Rhiannon]

Thank you for all the good leads, especially on Bosch and Durer.  (And I
thought the troubling art of Salvador Dali was original ;)  I read
somewhere that people thought the plague was brought or carried by birds,
hence the birdlike mask of the doctors to "carry it away".  I can
definitely see that theme in some of Bosch's art - the depictions of hell,
etc. in period (the bird with the cooking pot on its head devouring
people).  I don't plan on stopping till I reach the end of this.  Just
hopefully not the end portrayed in the dancing death paintings ;)

On Sat, Jan 21, 2012 at 6:42 AM, Casey Weed <seoseaweed at gmail.com> wrote:

> The most famous depiction is at the end of our period but it is by no means
> the earliest:
>
> From 1656 we have the "Doctor of Rome" with every feature already fully
> developed, mask, spectacles, wand, nails, robes... everything-
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/27601940@N05/2832992668
>
> Images and cultural characters don't generally spring up fully formed like
> this out of nowhere and the wikipedia article seems to support this, though
> not pictorially-
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beak_doctor_costumepurporting the use of
> the phrase "beak doctor" to the 14th century.  It
> conflicts with itself a bit in that it says the standardization of the
> outfit happened in 1619 (well within the reach of our purported scope,
> Shakespeare/Elizabeth/et al).
>
> In my mind, the images we have of Death as a person in Durer and other
> early 16th century examples along with many of Bosch's images of 'bird men'
> more than justify earlier placement of this artifact.  From a utilitarian
> function, keeping the smell of plague at bay so one could work with the
> bodies is so common a need that speculating what the mask looked like is a
> worthy area of experimentation, "backing up" from the more developed masks
> of the 16th century.
>
> You might pursue masks in general as a parallel; commedia del arte is
> making it's push at the same time and doesn't spring up whole cloth either.
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 9:27 PM, ~*Rhiannon <ahuvabasyah at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I am looking for documentation earlier than 17th century for a plague
> > doctor's mask, similar if possible to the one on the right in this photo:
> >
> >
> http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vv9Olqy2BLs/Tq7g5l2fKwI/AAAAAAAABhA/LDXV0oowzi0/s1600/classic%2Bversus%2Briveted.jpg
> >
> > Or, if for some reason that link doesn't work, the plague doctor's mask
> at
> > his main site, which is http://tombanwell.blogspot.com/
> >
> > I would appreciate any info.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Rhiannon
> > (cool SCA name pending)
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