The Plague of Florence in 1348, after Boccaccio's Decameron

What it is

This is an engraved print of a plague scene in a walled city, made by Luigi Sabatelli, who also invented and drew it. Robed figures attend to many naked and dying bodies piled on the ground in the foreground. A tall banner and an arched gateway frame the scene, with a church tower behind. An Italian inscription runs along the bottom margin. The print is held by the Wellcome Collection.

Why it matters

The print illustrates Giovanni Boccaccio's account of the plague that struck Florence in 1348, during the Black Death pandemic. Boccaccio wrote that account in his Decameron. This etching was made in the nineteenth century, long after both. It shows how later artists turned a written description into images, and printed sources like this one help us see how the plague was remembered.

Look closer

• What are the robed figures doing, and how close do they stand to the dead?
• Why might the print show nudity so openly, and what would a student need to know to judge that choice?
• Who made the print and when, compared with the 1348 events it shows?