Black Death depicted in a 15th-century manuscript miniature

What it is

This is a manuscript miniature, a small painted picture in a book, made in the 15th century. The image is described in its record as showing the Black Death. It shows a skeletal figure with a spear-like pointer beside a table, and another skeleton-like figure hovering over a red bed where a man lies. A seated man holds a cup, a woman kneels in prayer, and a young man in blue watches from the left. The artist is unknown.

Why it matters

The miniature was made decades after the pandemic of 1346 to 1353. It shows how later artists imagined the Black Death, with death itself shown as a skeleton. It therefore tells us more about the ideas and fears of the 15th century than about the plague itself. It is a useful comparison with the earlier written accounts of the pandemic.

Look closer

• Who in the picture is shown as dying, and who is shown as watching or praying?
• Why might an artist have chosen skeletons to represent death?
• What might this picture leave out that a doctor or a survivor would have known?