Postmortem photos

Frenchman Louis Daguerre’s improvements in photography reached America in the 1840s. Personal portraits were soon the craze, and ‘daguerreotype’ studios sprang up in every city, while traveling daguerreotypists served the countryside. This picture presents the controlled environment of the early studios. It took so long to properly expose a photographic plate that the subject needed a head brace to hold a pose.

Back when photography was a starting art form, it was expensive and laborious that it was (often) only in death when a person gets photographed.

Julia Stilley Lynn standing, and sister Hannah Stilley Willard. Mannsville, Oklahoma. Daughters of Alfred & Nancy Ann Stilley.

Explore Wild Rose-crafts' 144 photos on Flickr!

Victorian Postmortem Photography: The Myth of the Stand Alone Corpse ~ vintage everyday

Slightly more macabre follow up post to Hidden mothers in Victorian photography. Post-mortem photography is the practice of photographing the recently deceased. It is also known as memorial portrai…

Victorian postmortem photos did exist, no one denies that, however, they were never taken in a standing pose using a stand. It was imposs...

a tasa de mortalidad era tan elevada que muchas de las fotografías que se pueden encontrar corresponden a niños. Era la manera de tener el recuerdo para siempre

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has released a vast archive of 400,000 (mostly) hi-resolution digital images online that you can download and use for non-commercial purposes. From a 12-megapixel scan of Rembrandt’s 1660 self-portrait to over 18,000 photos spanning almost two centuries. Here are a few quick gems from the Photography collection, see also: Arms & Armor, Modern and Contemporary Art, and other highlights. More

Modern photo in the style of a Victorian Post Mortem Photo by SindelChaos on DeviantArt