Postmortem Photography In The 19th Century

In the 19th century, a practice known as memorial portraiture emerged in which people would pose with the recently dead that served as a visual memento of the dead person.

One of the fascinating trend sweeping through the Victorian period was postmortem photography or memento mori (remember you will die in Latin).

Postmortem photography was an unsettling practice of posing for pictures with the recently deceased. It was a common practice sweeping Europe and America during the 19th century. The photos were considered to be a memento of their loved one.

The invention of daguerreotype saw the beginning of memorialization. The high mortality rate and the frequent deaths of children saw the memorializing of dead people. Often a family would
pose together with a dressed up but dead relative or child. Since painting the dead people for posterity was common in the Victorian era, the postmortem photography barely raised any eyebrows