Death Masks

The Victorians were fascinated by death and the happenings after you passed away. Queen Victoria mourned her husband, Albert, for the remaining forty years of her life, wearing all black and rarely going to public appearances, but instead spending much of her time by herself in Windsor Castle. Queen Victoria kept everything in his room exactly the same as before he had passed away and the servants were asked to bring hot water into his room every mourning, as they had done before his passing.

An example of the dresses Queen Victoria wore in mourning.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/-xdsDRGuMcy4/T-q-E3zYqpI/AAAAAAAAXpg/U3dng
H-VCzA/Queen%252520Victoria%252520in%252520Mourning%25252
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The state of mourning was taken up by the Victorians to show their bereavement and respect towards their lost ones. They would wear black and then as the years went by they would change the colour of their clothes to show the stage of mourning they were at, for example at 'half mounting' they would wear purples and greys. The women were expected to stay in isolation at home, just like what Queen Victoria did, however the men were allowed to continue to work through their mourning. 

Memento Mori, which means 'remember you must die' in Latin, were things that would remind the owner of someone that they had lost. People would arrange lockets of the person's hair and wear it in their jewellery, people would have photos taken and then with the use of double exposure, their loved one would hover over them like a ghost or spirit. It was very popular to have a public death, so people would have photographs taken with their loved ones who had passed away and prop them up to make them look like they were almost still alive. Another Memento Mori would have been to have death masks created, which were moulds of the person's face.

Example of a lock of hair in a locket.
https://40.media.tumblr.com/b553d879ae393c4d0365911f
43561ce2/tumblr_mgxycjXjMx1rdurh7o1_400.jpg

An example of Double Exposure in the Victorian Era
http://www.slightlywarped.com/crapfactory/cur
iosities/2011/october/images/victor11.gif

An example of someone posing with their dead loved one.
http://editorial.designtaxi.com/news-morbid3001/8.jpg

Death Masks

A death mask is created when a mould is made of a dead person's face out of wax or clay. It is a form of Memento Mori. One of the most famous death masks ever made was of an unknown woman who had been pulled out of the Seine River in Paris in the 1980s. The mask was named L'Inconnue de la Seine, which means 'the unknown woman of Seine'. This death mask is still famous and used today, as the first-aid mannequin Rescue Annie!

L'Inconnue de la Seine
https://anarchistcoloringbook.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/anne.jpeg

My Death Masks

Resources:
http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/victoria/section5.rhtml
http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-death/victorians-and-the-art-of-dying
http://mentalfloss.com/article/22871/creepiest-thing-ever-linconnue-de-la-seine