THE BLEAK ART OF DEATH PHOTOGRAPHY: A VICTORIAN PRACTICE THAT WILL SEND SHIVERS DOWN YOUR SPINE.

Post-mortem photography of dear ones are quite emaciated to the contemporary society’s thinking or aesthetic sense. But in the Victorian England, they emerged as a method of honouring the deceased and lessening the intensity of the loss. 

In bizarre and rather disturbing series of photographs the people are depicted as posing with the deceased, infants look asleep while consumptive young ladies are fashionable as the disease not only took their life but enhanced their beauty, outside. 

The Victorian period lived, died and thrived in death. First diseases like diphtheria, typhus and cholera affected the entire country and from 1861 the mourning Queen Victoria started the fashion of mourning. 

pic: Beniamino Facchinelli/Wikimedia Commons 

Memento mori or, their direct translation – ‘remember you have to die’ – took several shapes, and it is possible to speak about them even without referring to the Victorian era. 

Due to extremely high mortality and infectious diseases, death was almost a common a theme during the Victorian period. Thus, many people struggled to come up with something that would remind everyone about death — and that resulted in the creation of the Victorian death photos. We may find it rather strange to think of today, but such photo was once used as a means of remembering the deceased by their families. 

The daughter is sharper than parents in this picture because she isn’t moving… 

Floating out of the 19th century Victorian era English poet’s mouth was this; “It is not the likeness which is precious, but the association and the sense of nearness, involved in the thing… the very shadow of the person lying there fixed forever!” 

A post mortem portrait could be the first ever photograph of a person for many of the folks of the Victorian period. He anticipated that coupled with the relatively new technology it would provide people with a chance to get a permanent reminder of their dear ones, who perished — majority of whom had never had photographs taken of them while alive. 

The boy’s eyes have been painted on the photo, while the little girl is arranged upright, as if she’s dropped off to sleep while playing with her favourite dolls 

Today, photographs of Victorians dead appear rather creepy. But for the people of the 19th century, they gave comfort in the face of mourning.

It is thus possible to agree that thanks to photography, people could capture the image of a close person who had died, and many Victorian death photos were in fact family portraits. They are mostly associated with mothers embracing dead children, or fathers hovering over their children’s death. 

Still on the sad memories, one photographer remembered parents who brought a still born baby to his studio. “Can you photograph this?” the mother offered to the photographer a face like a waxwork religiously held in a wooden basket. 

Memento mori photography was not just popular in Europe. These pictures were taken in Australia and are part of a collection at the State Library of South Australia 

The idea of having a picture painted after a person had died was around long before the invention of photography. But earlier, this was a carefully guarded status symbol, which only the most affluent families could spend money on, for instance, to enlist the services of an artist to depict the image of a dear relative. Photography also whereby people of lesser means could get a post mortem image as well. 

The undertakers taught photographers on how to arrange the children in a way that it looks like they are sleeping, this gave consolation to the families of the deceased. A few photographers touched up their daguerreotype, one of the first methods of photography that utilized a shiny silver plate to create an incredibly accurate picture — with some painting a tint to give the appearance of bringing a little life to the subject’s cheeks. 

Such images were helpful and rather reassuring to the relatives and friends of those who perished in the tragedy. As for the depiction, Mary Russell Mitford, an English author, once wrote to Charles, her brother on 23rd April 1842 about post-mortem photograph: “The photograph with my dear father has a heavenly calm in it. 

On first view, this may appear to be a picture taken in the black and white era of the five children who look rather uninterested to be in a family picture. And indeed, it is. However, it hides a certain macabre secret: The smallest child on the far left is not breathing but instead is merely represented as lifeless child that has been put on display on a stand. 

In today’s terms, this may seem rather macabre, but during the Victorians these have become known as the ‘death portraits’. Out of all the presented photographs it is perhaps one of the rare instances that provide some sort of insight into what life might have been like for the initial jobbing photographer of the Victorian era. 

Bones of those who had passed on their hair was trimmed and then worn in lockets and rings, and death masks were made from wax; and depiction of death in paintings and sculptures among others were part of the renaissance art. 

However, during the middle of 1800s, photography was slowly turning into a fad and was comparatively affordable – this paved way for memento mori photographic portraiture. 

The first successful form of photography, external, the daguerreotype was a small, highly detailed picture on polished silver: expensive, but cheaper than having a portrait painted, the only way prior to this of preserving someone’s likeness. 

Louis Daguerre has managed to develop a way through which the expenses of photographers would reduce as more and more photographers joined the business. In the 1850’s cheaper methods came up which included the use of thin metals, glass or paper instead of silver. 

Taking picture of deceased popularly known as postmortem photography may sound like a horrifying job. But in the 19th century, the work of dead subjects was much more convenient for photographs than alive — as they could not move. 

Because of the low shutter speed, used in the early model cameras, the subject had to be static in order to achieve sharp pictures. Looking back at old days, people who visited studios have been held by photographers using posing stands made from cast iron. 

As much as this would be surprising to many people, Victorian death photos can easily be recognized based on their low blur. Anyway, the subjects depicted in these portraits did not blink or turn their heads sharply. 

This is in contrast to most portraits that were taken at photo studios, and the post-mortem photos, which were commonly taken at peoples’ homes. With the onset of taking the death photographs, the families started to ensure that their dead loved ones were well posed to take the pictures. That could refer to shaving off the hair of the subject or even dressing his or her wardrobe. People that were close to the deceased tried to open his eyes. 

Of course, post mortem photos were not taken like the photo studio portraiture was, they were at home. According to the history of death portraits, the families then began to deal a lot of effort to present their near and dear ones for the conduct of photography. It might mean the subject’s hair, the outfit they are to wear in the picture or even the jewelry. Indeed, some of the relative tried to open the eyes of the dead person. 

Some photographers together with the relatives involved posed the body in a manner some indicating the reason why the photograph was being taken. In some cases, flowers are depicted to be near the dead body of the person buried. In others, skull, bones and crosses depict death and time such as an hour glass or a clock to indicate that this is a post- mortem photograph. 

Victorian death photos made families to feel as if they have regained some authority of the dead by taking their pictures. Even though they have lost a dear one, they could tilte the picture on the wall in a manner given a sense of serenity. 

More often – as we have seen in some of the surveyed cases – post-mortem photographs did not merely give the impression of life: they actively constructed this impression. People could ask for makeup to cover up for a sickly-looking skin. Another instance professional photographers decided to paint open eyes on the last picture. 

Beyond Victorian Death Photography: Death, Melancholia, And Memento Mori 

In the context of the late Victoria period, it has found that bereavement was a long and elaborate process — and grieving most certainly extended beyond photographs. Widows used to wear black for a long time, probably, for several years after the death of their husbands. Some even cut the hair of their dead relatives and kept the hair inside jewellery. 

If that is not sufficiently bleak, people of the Victorian era were surrounded by memento mori, that is reminders of death. The more direct translation of that phrase would be ‘remember you must die. ‘With Victorians, this phrase was a reminder that the dead need to be commemorated and that one should always remember his/her own mortality.’

Another method that Victorians used to commemorate the dead was the tradition of taking molds of the face of the deceased, which in modern terminology is called a death mask. In the words of Laurence Hutton, a collector of the 19th century while describing the death mask it is a statement that must, of necessity, be absolutely true to nature.

The creation of a death mask in New York. 1908. Courtesy: Bain News Services/Library of Congress

People especially began to pursue death portraiture. About Measles, Diphtheria, Scarlet fever, Rubella all of which were fatal during Victorian nursery. 

This was really the first-time families ever considered having a picture taken, this was the final opportunity the families had to preserve the image of their dear child. 

However, as health took a notch up and children were now able to live longer, then this need was fading away. 

The new introduction of snapshots was the final nail into the coffin of the art – as anyone would get portraits taken while alive. 

Now, those images of men, women and children who were willing to mask their sorrow in order to offer the photographers the semblance of the lost dearly beloved are gladly lined up to the name that was given to them. 

Memento mori: remember, you have to die.

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