Sabatelli etching of the Florentine plague of 1348

What it is

This is an etching titled La peste di Firenze dal Boccaccio descritta (The plague of Florence as described by Boccaccio), made by Luigi Sabatelli. Plague victims lie nude and clothed on the ground in the foreground. Robed figures and a monk with a cross stand near a stone archway and fortified walls, and a banner with a skull and cross hangs above a group on a mound. A tower and city appear in the distance. The lettering is Italian.

Why it matters

The scene illustrates the plague that struck Florence in 1348, during the Black Death. Giovanni Boccaccio described that plague in his Decameron, and this etching was made to illustrate his text. It is a later artwork, not an eyewitness record, so it shows how artists in later centuries pictured Boccaccio's account. The image's keywords also name Pier Roberto Capponi.

Look closer

• Which figures are dying, and which seem to be helping them?
• Why might the artist show the dead nude while some living figures stay clothed?
• What does the picture leave out about the people of Florence who were not in the streets?