I believe this was aregular occurance in the late 1800's, does any one have anymore information?
2006-11-22 22:22:21 · 10 answers · asked by pipdawson2003 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Yes, it was called Memento Mori. Here's a site which is quite macabre - be warned:
http://thanatos.net/galleries/categories.php?cat_id=1
It was a method of remembering the dead; other ways were often shown in art to remind people that no matter how rich or successful they were, they would die in the end. I remember a very old lady I knew who outlived her daughter. She had photographs of her daughter in her coffin.
Here's more information of death in Victorian times:
http://www.deathonline.net/remembering/mourning/victorian.cfm
2006-11-23 03:27:44 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes they did take photos of dead people - I have seen an old picture of a family posing with a dead baby!
2006-11-23 06:32:23 · answer #2 · answered by sharon m 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was used in the 1800's when medicine was not as advanced as it is now & illnesses were the cause of many deaths, so when family members used to die (especially of illnesses), their family members used to have them photographed so as to preserve their memory, it was also used to remind the families of who died of what & at what time throughout the years. It was mainly used for TB though as so many people died from it throughout the 1800's & this meant that the families could keep track of who had died from it & how many people had died from it at that particular point in time (the amount of people in 1 photo showed how badly it had affected the family during that period). This was also due to people wanting their relatives memories to be preserved for longer that the would have if they would have just been buried & no record would have been made of them dying at what stage.
2006-11-23 06:37:40 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes it was quite a common practice in the 19th century as was taking photographs of dead outlaws in America.
2006-11-23 06:36:58 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They were photos taken of dead people who were posed. I think it was called a book of the dead.
2006-11-23 06:30:00 · answer #5 · answered by kitty fresh & hissin' crew 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hey.
Thought this was really interesting.
So looked it up. Was a bit hard but try these two. The first one explains it and the second and third one shows actual pictures!!
Very Morbid.
2006-11-23 06:49:45 · answer #6 · answered by nycgrl 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
yes and none of them were smiling cos you couldnt smile in photos back then for some reason. i dont know why i think its something to do with the length of time of the exposure. either that or they were all miserable.
2006-11-23 06:27:45 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
these were supposed to be dead people. and something to do with their souls going to rest.
2006-11-23 06:31:08 · answer #8 · answered by amethyst2 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
apparently,it was common practice to take pictures of people when they had died back in those days.sick bastards.
2006-11-23 06:32:27 · answer #9 · answered by mike w 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As scary that it sounds, yes is true :)
2006-11-23 09:42:50 · answer #10 · answered by Sakura ♥ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋