For me now I find these photo's distasteful and extremely sad the way the person has been positioned some with there eyes open is almost creepy. The photographer and family have clearly wanted the model to see alive again in there final photo but theres something even without knowing the model was in fact deceased wrong with the actual photo. Theres no glow of life or response within the eyes; when modelled with a family member the contrast between life and death is extremely obviously. Post-mortem photos were expensive and see as extremely respectful within the family themselves of the passed, in a way you have families now that keep their loved ones at their house for a couple of days before their funeral but even to me that is a unusual process, I guess in the wealthy Victorians eyes this was there goodbye to that person so they could have that family photo or whatever together in the moment. Looking through the photos you can't help notice that yes most are young children. Of course over a hundred years ago the health system wasn't what it is today and illness was more serious, much like the flu or the common cold to a young child with a weaker immune system they didn't really have a chance unless of course were wealthy enough to have warm clothes and hot meals everyday. Victorian London had a major over crowding problem so a lot of poor mothers would find themselves in damp crowded housing with their babies; many would die from the lack of food to even tuberculosis. Rich people obviously had it better but still many would die due to the lack of medical knowledge.
Can you tell in the photos with siblings which sibling is actually dead?
As our project of gothic horror in Victorian ages I can't help that theres something horrific about this practice. And of course extremely upsetting.
 |
| All photos have been sourced from Pinterest |
I'm glad this isn't a popular custom nowadays
No comments:
Post a Comment