Victorian Era Post-Mortem Photography

[Kazimiera]

The invention of the daguerreotype in 1839 made portraiture much more commonplace, as many of those who were unable to afford the commission of a painted portrait could afford to sit for a photography session. This cheaper and quicker method also provided the middle class with a means for memorializing dead loved ones.

Post-mortem photography was very common in the nineteenth century when "death occurred in the home and was quite an ordinary part of life." Due to photography being a new medium, it is plausible that "many daguerreotype post-mortem portraits, especially those of infants and young children, were probably the only photographs ever made of the 'sitters.'" According to Mary Warner Marien, "post-mortem photography flourished in photography's early decades, among clients who preferred to capture an image of a deceased loved one rather than have no photograph at all."

These photographs served as keepsakes to remember the deceased. This was especially common with infants and young children; Victorian era childhood mortality rates were extremely high, and a post-mortem photograph might have been the only image of the child the family ever had. The later invention of the carte de visite, which allowed multiple prints to be made from a single negative, meant that copies of the image could be mailed to relatives.

The practice eventually peaked in popularity around the end of the 19th century and died out as "snapshot" photography became more commonplace, although a few examples of formal memorial portraits were still being produced well into the 20th century.


Infants and children

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Photo source: http://io9.com/the-strangest-tradition-of-the-victorian-era-post-mort-472772709

[Kazimiera]

Family portraits

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Adults

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With coffin

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But how do these bodies stand?

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Photo source: http://io9.com/the-strangest-tradition-of-the-victorian-era-post-mort-472772709

[Kazimiera]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7B3x0fW6xM

[Smaug]

I am divided between creepy and sad.

[Proctor]

extremely eery, especially how they put them standing up like that, as if they're alive, got the jitters.

[Kazimiera]

I am divided between creepy and sad.

I think that looking at it with today's eyes, it is creepy.

But we are at a point today where our entire lives are documented by photos and video. There are hundreds photos of us and our family members while they were alive, which is why this type of photography has no purpose in today's day and age.

For these people, it may have been the only photograph they ever had of that person, or even together as a family. And the one and only thing they had to remember them by. It's the only way they could capture that this person had even existed.

[Smaug]

I think that looking at it with today's eyes, it is creepy.

But we are at a point today where our entire lives are documented by photos and video. There are hundreds photos of us and our family members while they were alive, which is why this type of photography has no purpose in today's day and age.

For these people, it may have been the only photograph they ever had of that person, or even together as a family. And the one and only thing they had to remember them by. It's the only way they could capture that this person had even existed.

Exactly, that's what I was thinking, was trying to see the pictures as if I were a Victorian Era man, and under this perspective it is indeed very sad, and quite depressing, mainly the way the living are standing by the bodies as if they were together and happy.

[larali]

It's so sad, especially the children... you can tell the moms and dads have been crying.

[Kazimiera]

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[Manifest Destiny]

If we did that today, how many of us would make the dead person do the "duck face"?

[Marmie Dearest]

If we did that today, how many of us would make the dead person do the "duck face"?

There is a funeral home that was recently on the Internet for offering to pose the dead in life-like postures for funerals, after one woman's family specifically requested it.

I have seen things like this, both on the documentary Wisconsin Death Trip (a film about the insanity that plagued Black River Falls, Wisconsin during the late 19th century, I recommend it to anyone with any interest in American history, because it really shows how difficult life was on the Western frontier as well as revealing some base commonalities in human nature)....and I also saw stuff like this at the Hollywood Museum of Death on Hollywood Blvd.

[Marmie Dearest]

I think that looking at it with today's eyes, it is creepy.

But we are at a point today where our entire lives are documented by photos and video. There are hundreds photos of us and our family members while they were alive, which is why this type of photography has no purpose in today's day and age.

For these people, it may have been the only photograph they ever had of that person, or even together as a family. And the one and only thing they had to remember them by. It's the only way they could capture that this person had even existed.

Actually I think it's very healthy for people in modern times to look at photos of the dead. Some people living in the West today have, unfuckingbelievably, never even seen a dead body in person, and may not even know what a real dead person looks like due to fake scenes in Hollywood and television. People should know what the dead look like.

Oh, by the way, my sister photographed my grandfather in his coffin for me because I was not able to attend his funeral. I found it very touching, though I had several photos of him alive.

[Manifest Destiny]

There is a funeral home that was recently on the Internet for offering to pose the dead in life-like postures for funerals, after one woman's family specifically requested it.

I have seen things like this, both on the documentary Wisconsin Death Trip (a film about the insanity that plagued Black River Falls, Wisconsin during the late 19th century, I recommend it to anyone with any interest in American history, because it really shows how difficult life was on the Western frontier as well as revealing some base commonalities in human nature)....and I also saw stuff like this at the Hollywood Museum of Death on Hollywood Blvd.

That's just creepy. I mean, I'm not saying it should be illegal, since there isn't an actual victim in the situation. But it's really, really weird...

[Kazimiera]

We have become very far removed from death, which is a natural human process. It's become somewhat of a taboo. We don't talk about death anymore.

The Victorians were very close to death purely by circumstance. Antibiotics hadn't been developed, strange and deadly diseases abounded, the health care system left much to be desired and people were killed in warfare. Death was a daily part of life. People died at home, where they lived their lives. They died in surroundings where they were happy, in the arms of the people they loved. Today sick people are shoved off into hospitals so that we don't need to see their suffering. Death is something which happens in the back room of a hospital ward, or an old age home. And it isn't spoken about. Death has become more of an inconvenience than a process which is as important as life itself.

I would much rather die at home, with my husband and cats, knowing that I'm loved than in some sterile environment where hospital staff hope I get it over and done with asap because they need to give the room to someone else. When my husband was dying of cancer, I wished that he would die at home with me. It wasn't possible because he had massive surgery two days before he died, but I was glad I was there. He died in my arms. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

[Leo Iscariot]

I am divided between creepy and sad.

My thoughts exactly.

[Kazimiera]

Stay dead still: The gruesome 19th-century portraits of children who'd passed away which helped their parents to recover from bereavement

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4036412/Touching-morbid-gruesome-19th-century-portraits-dead-children-helped-parents-recover-bereavement.html?ito=social-facebook

Post-mortem photographs, like these, were popular in the 19th century both in the US and in Europe
The daguerreotype was invented in 1839 and within 10 years taking images of dead child became common
Children usually appeared to be sleeping but sometimes photographers propped open their eyes

To us in 2016 it seems like the most morbid idea - taking an image of a mother posing with her dead child - but in the 19th century post-mortem photography was all the rage.

In an era when epidemics of diphtheria, typhus and cholera claimed the lives of thousands of American children and many others succumbed to conditions which nowadays would be cured by antibiotics, death was commonplace.

But that made it no less painful. And one way of coping with the grief was through photographs, or daguerreotypes, as the earliest photos were known.

Because of the prohibitive cost, few people in 19th century America could afford to go to a photographic studio to take family portraits while they were alive. So these were the only pictures they would ever have to remember their beloved children.

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A mother poses with her dead child in a daguerreotype taken in the 1840s (left). The image of the dead child slumped in a chair (right) was taken in 1901 but the fashion for post-mortem photography faded away in the early years of the 20th century

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This image of a little girl, taken around 1859, clearly became a precious keepsake for a family overcome with grief

Invented by Frenchman, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, in 1839 they became hugely popular around the world.

Daguerreotypes were used to capture the image of famous people like Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S Grant and Robert E Lee.

But they were soon being used to help in the grieving process.

Many American families felt the need to capture the likeness of their dead children before they were laid to rest.

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Two little girls rest in repose shortly after death. The girl on the right appears to be lying in her coffin, with her favorite doll beside her and a bouquet of flowers in her hand

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This family have lost two children, apparently to the same illness. The youngsters are dressed in their Sunday best and posed for a final photograph. This image was taken somewhere in America in the late 19th century

A remarkable collection of these pictures can be found on the Thanatos Archive.

The images usually showed the infants with their eyes closed, as if they were having a peaceful sleep.

But photographers would sometimes try to make the subjects appear alive, by propping them up against tables or chairs, holding their eyes open or even painting pupils onto the print.

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This heartbreaking photograph of a young girl, was taken in 1850. The youngster's arm has been posed and her eyes have somehow been propped open to give the illusion that she is still alive

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A little girl is captured shortly after death in Iowa (left) and a boy appears to have dozed off in this image from 1856 (right). The modern-day concept of death is that it is something we do not want to see. But in the 19th century it was commonplace for families to take images of their children if they had just passed away

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This image, from 1875, apparently shows a dead teenage girl clutching a Bible, as if to protect her in the after-life

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This image shows a child who could easily be sleeping. Her right hand appears wounded and her dress bloodstained but it is thought this effect was simply due to a corruption of the daguerreotype

Rosy tints were even added to the cheeks of corpses and sometimes they posed alongside their siblings, who were still alive.

By the beginning of the 20th century the daguerreotype had been replaced by a simpler and cheaper photographic practice and post-mortem photography gradually fell out of fashion as more families could afford to take portraits of their children as they grew up.

Nowadays grief counsellors do not recommend taking photographs of infants who have passed away.

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This image, from 1860, is especially macabre. It is not clear if the child died with her eyes open or if they have been propped open, but as she lies in her mother's embrace, the image is disquieting

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This dead boy's eyes have been propped open as he lies on a 'fainting couch' in an image taken in 1853

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A little boy holds a tiny bunch of flowers (left) and a young girl is for some reason posed with a pair of scissors (right

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Twin boys are photographed together in St Charles, Michigan, in 1900. They presumably succumbed to the same epidemic

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This young man has been laid out in his best suit. It is unclear if the mark on his forehead is a gunshot wound or just a mistake on the daguerreotype

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A little girl seems to almost glow with angelic beauty (left) as she sits on an armchair in an image taken in 1900. Five years later an image (right) shows another child in a coffin casket propped against a wall

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One of the most gruesome images in the collection is this triptych of a little girl - her eyes open, seated in a chair and seen in her coffin