THE PATHOS OF POSTMORTEM PORTRAITURE

Photography for most of the 19th Century was an extremely cumbersome process involving long exposure times and complicated and bulky equipment both for taking and developing the picture. Most people were rarely photographed and then on only special occasions. One such occasion was that of death.

In both America and Europe, it was a once a common practice for the grieving family members of a decedent to commission a professional photographer to take a picture of the freshly departed. Often, the subject would be dressed and posed (with varying degrees of success) in such a fashion that he or she would still appear to be alive. Even more sadly, other family members frequently would appear in the photo at the same time, and it would not be unusual to have a portrait of children sitting on a couch with their dead sibling or a picture of parents holding their lifeless infant.

It is not hard to understand why family members would submit to such a heartbreaking experience as posing for hours with their deceased child or other relative for a photograph. In many cases, the postmortem photo would be the only picture they would have of their loved one, especially if the subject was a baby.

Once the box camera was introduced in 1885 and ordinary people could take snapshots at home without elaborate equipment, families were able to accumulate pictures of relatives under more joyous circumstances. As a result, the concept of formal postmortem photography eventually happily fell by the wayside for most of the world, although it is still practiced in parts of Eastern Europe.

If you wish to see more examples of postmortem photos or just simply feel like getting depressed, click here. If you are really obsessed with the topic, join the Thanatos Archive.