Post Mortem Photography

Some while ago a comment was left on one of my pictures suggesting that the image could in fact be a post mortem photograph. I always thought that this picture of a baby did not look quite right and I think that the suggestion may well be correct.

I may well be doing this image , seen above, a great injustice but it is a possibility.

Facinated by the thought of grieving parents taking their recently deceased child to the photographers for that final photograph I did some research on this subject.

In Victorian and early Edwardian times the infant mortality rate was high and in fact life expectancy in general was far less than it is today. Parents may not have had their child photographed when they were alive and in the event of a sudden death would have rushed the body along to a photographers to have a photograph taken as a reminder of their child.
Some of these photographs were tastefully done showing the obviously deceased child laying on a bed surrounded by flowers and apparently asleep. However, if the family did not have a photograph of their child or family member when they were alive they would instruct the photographer to give the impression that the deceased was still alive at the time of the photograph.

One of the first parts of the body to deteriorate after death are the eyes and many photographers became expert at painting false eyes on to closed eye lids. Some photographers were more skilled than others at this macabre task.









The picture on the left shows how this skill has been applied and the photograph has even been tinted to achieve a more "alive" look.















This next picture shows a young deceased boy who has been strapped to the chair for the photograph.










When the deceased were older much greater ingenuity was used to give the impression that they were alive in the photograph. Frames were built to support the deceased and supporting rods would be inserted through the back of their clothing.

In this next picture the girl in the middle of the photograph is dead and is supported by a frame behind her.

The woman in the middle of this final picture is also dead and is being supported by what could be her sisters.

I find this whole subject macabre, gruesome, spooky but totally facinating !

If you would like to see more of this subject then I have discovered a web site that features many post mortem photographs so just click the link below to visit. It is a kind of photo sharing site that you can register with for free and then be able to download any pictures you want.

Post Mortem Photography Site

Forgotten Faces at Flickr