XII. Pestarzt In History And Miniature

I present the Doctor; painted and based:

I'm very pleased with the result, and the paintjob was as simple as it gets. Making this miniature made me wonder how many plague doctor miniatures there are out there, produced by various miniature companies. I was already aware of some, like this one from the Carnevale miniatures game,  Shaking Sean from the delicious 50mm Smog 1888 range, or Goblin Gas Blowers from Confrontation. After a quick search I found some more: Mr Crippenghast by Darkling, The Cutter from the Disturbia range, one from Reaper Pathfinder range and one from Brother Vinni's, a rather rustic one from Lead Adventure, and a whole pack by Foundry. Of all the new ones I thus discovered, there is one I particularly liked and am getting at least one copy of. It's this Plague Doctor by C-P Models.

Some notes on historical plague doctors:
They were hired by town/city authorities in times of great epidemics to treat  infected people and record the numerous plague victims. The special outfit some of them wore was invented by Charles de L'Orme in early 17th century. It consisted of a long overcoat, gloves, boots, a hat and a mask. The protective suit was made of waxed leather, and kept the physician safe from fleas, rats and patients. The mask had a curved beak filled with various aromatic items, and served as a filter for the "foul air". People believed in those times that desease was caused by "miasma": putrid, bad-smelling air. The doctor would also carry a wooden cane for pointing, poking and keeping people away. Being a plague doctor was not a promising career. Paracelsus and Nostradamus were famous plague doctors.

An engraving showing the characteristic costume with bird-beak mask, worn by some plague doctors in the seventeenth and eighteenth century.

Apparently those who didn't opt to wear the bird-beak would put on something even more grotesque, such as this weird-ass thing...