Zylphy
Private
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2011
- Location
- Baltimore, Maryland
No doubt many of you know about the practice of photographing dead loved ones; the pics are called Memento Mori (actually I guess it should be "Mementi Mori"?).
Apparently this became popular with the coming of photography and continued regularly as a way to remember the deceased until the 1920s. It is also my understanding that some hospitals offer this service even today for parents of stillborn infants.
Memento Mori photography seems to have had its heyday in the Early to Late Victorian Era and I am sure was much appreciated by those who could afford it, and for whom it was possible, during the War Between the States. I offer this thread with some of what to the best of my knowledge are Civil War Era examples.
I have purposely excluded all but two photos of deceased children; I believe that for general public viewing it would be needlessly graphic, and far too sad, to post a slew of them. I included the two that I did because I feel they capture not only the image of the deceased, but a really amazing emotional picture of the parents as well.
Links to many more of these kinds of photos exist; you need only Google the term, "Memento Mori Photography".
Here is a link, to start, with good general information: http://brightbytes.com/collection/memento.html
To me this really is a fascinating look at Victorian mourning practices.
Thanks,
Zylphy
Apparently this became popular with the coming of photography and continued regularly as a way to remember the deceased until the 1920s. It is also my understanding that some hospitals offer this service even today for parents of stillborn infants.
Memento Mori photography seems to have had its heyday in the Early to Late Victorian Era and I am sure was much appreciated by those who could afford it, and for whom it was possible, during the War Between the States. I offer this thread with some of what to the best of my knowledge are Civil War Era examples.
I have purposely excluded all but two photos of deceased children; I believe that for general public viewing it would be needlessly graphic, and far too sad, to post a slew of them. I included the two that I did because I feel they capture not only the image of the deceased, but a really amazing emotional picture of the parents as well.
Links to many more of these kinds of photos exist; you need only Google the term, "Memento Mori Photography".
Here is a link, to start, with good general information: http://brightbytes.com/collection/memento.html
To me this really is a fascinating look at Victorian mourning practices.
Thanks,
Zylphy
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