Au XVIIe siècle, les médecins qui soignaient les victimes de la peste portaient ce type de costume assez effrayant ; son invention est attribué à Charles de Lorme, un médecin français qui officiait dans les cours européennes du 17e siècle, y compris à la cour de Louis XIII.
Les médecins se couvraient entièrement le corps et portaient un masque doté d'un long bec d’oiseau.
Ils remplissaient leurs masques d’un contrepoison hérité de la Rome antique composé de plus de 55 herbes médicinales, de poudre de peau de vipères, de cannelle, de myrrhe et de miel.


The Bubonic Plague dramatically struck the Republic of Venice in 1630-1631. It is estimated that 46,000 people died of it out of a population of 140,000.
In the seventeenth century, the doctors who treated the victims of the plague wore this rather frightening type of costume; its invention is attributed to Charles de Lorme, a French doctor who officiated in the European courts of the seventeenth century, including the court of Louis XIII.
The doctors covered their bodies completely and wore a mask with a long bird’s beak.
They filled their masks with a counterpart inherited from ancient Rome composed of more than 55 medicinal herbs, viper skin powder, cinnamon, myrrh and honey.


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