Last week I had all four of my wisdom teeth out and was staying at my parents’ house. While I was there my sister came to visit and we were on the computer and she showed me some pictures and articles she had looked up on post mortem photography from the Victorian era. I have seen and heard about it but it wasn’t something I was extensively knowledgeable about, so I decided to look it up and read a bit more about it and found some of the most disturbing yet fascinating photographs.

I guess in the Victorian era it was extremely expensive to have your photo taken. Only the very rich could afford to. So when a family member died, especially a child, it was then normal to have their picture taken alone or even with family (!) to preserve their memory. They’d even go as far as making them look alive in the photographs by putting them in poses and by painting pupils on their closed eyelids.

Can you imagine being this little girl?

If you look closely you can see the stand propping the girl in the middle up and her eyes look painted

“Mother could not part with only daugther, Miss Jeanette Glockmeyer daughter whose above photo was taken 9 days after death” Creepy!!

What a strange custom, I can’t even imagine having to dress up your dead loved one and posing with them. So eerie and intriguing at the same time. I am quite glad we don’t do this nowadays though!

Tags: Photography, post mortem, victorian

Posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 2:26 pm. Photography.