Fear Facts: A Brief History of Post-Mortem Photography Post-mortem photography, also known as memorial portraiture or mourning portraits, was commonly used in the mid-Nineteenth through the early Twentieth Centuries as a way to memorialize recently deceased loved ones in Europe, Canada and the United States. It was often the only visual imagery a family had of a deceased relative, and it helped with dealing with the loss of the individual. It began with the invention of daguerreotype in 1839 and was more affordable than commissioning painted portraits. Also, in the 1800’s most deaths occurred at home and not in hospital as they are today. So it did not seem odd or macabre to have a photograph taken to remember the deceased family member. Often it was the only photograph ever taken of the person. With the high rate of childhood mortality post-mortem photography was commonly used to have an image keepsake of the infant or young child. Often, they were photographed in their mother’s arms. Sometimes they lay surrounded by flowers. With the invention of carte de visite multiple prints could be made from one negative which allowed more post-mortem photographs to be shared with other relatives and friends. Most were head shots and attempts were made to make the deceased appear as lifelike as possible. This would be achieved by placing inserts into the eye sockets (as the eyes sink in after death) and then painting eyes on the closed eyelids. In some cases, people were seated in chairs, their heads tilted as if napping. There are reports that deceased were propped up by a stand for the photograph. The stand was developed by famed Civil War photographer, Mathew Brady, to hold subjects motionless for the long exposure time needed to take the photograph. Post-mortem photography began to wane at the end of the Nineteenth Century as the use of ‘snapshot’ photography rose in popularity; however, it continues to be used to this day in Eastern Europe and the Middle East for a death image of a particularly holy or religious individual. ~VPI
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 15:39:45 +0000
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