Two years ago I wrote several posts about the Victorian-era custom of photographing children shortly after their death (enter "postmortem" in the search box in the right sidebar). This week Poemas del rio Wang has a marvelous assemblage of such photos, ranging from early daguerrotypes to the modern era.
The first known Spanish daguerrotype was taken on 18 november 1839, and this was also the first known photo of Madrid. However, the most common photographic genre from the beginning was the portrait, with a strongly Spanish peculiarity since the very first Spanish plates, which would continue with the glass negatives and photo prints as well: the photo portraits of dead children...
In Spain, the first professional daguerrotypists announced their services, such as Mattey did in the 3 April 1856 edition of Diario de Barcelona, offering to “go to the home of the deceased persons to take their photographic portraits, imbued with the expression of life and in the desired position”.
To the modern eye, these may seem morbid, but for many families this was the best way to preserve a memory of a beloved child.
The post at Poemas del rio Wang has additional examples, as well as forensic, artistic, and news photos of the dead.
Top photos: José Rodrigo and J. Suárez, ca. 1870.
Bottom photo: Fernando Gordillo, Catafalque in Pedro Bernardo, 1969
Addendum: There's another gallery of photos at AcidCow, via Whatever Was I Thinking?
http://sarafenix.me/2010/12/05/my-my-why-arent-we-still-doing-this/
ReplyDeleteI had a post about this a few years back and was certainly intrigued by it.
Thanks for the entertainment and keep it coming.
I've added your links to the post. Thanks, sarafenix.
DeleteAnd re the question at your blog "why aren't we still doing this," it actually is still being done. The wife of a friend of mine is a professional photographer who donates her time to the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation to provide remembrance photography for families that can't afford it on their own.
The parents' expressions are heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The mourning/devastation is so apparent. I was hoping I wasn't simply reading that into the pictures.
DeleteI am a pediatrician working at a large children's hospital and it is not uncommon for parents to take pictures or, even more commonly, to make inkblot footprints/handprints after their children die. It seems morbid, but parents do seem to get a lot of comfort from the gesture.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to figure out where the guy (father?) in the first photo got his Adidas trackpants from.
ReplyDeleteYes, they struck me as notable as well. His hands are also fascinating.
DeleteTo me they look like the trousers of a military uniform.
DeleteGiven the fact that the picture was taken in 1870, some of the clothes he is wearing look remarkably modern. The vest and the shirt definitely got the late 19th century look. But the uniform pants and his jacket are very hard to place. I could totally see someone wearing that today.
DeleteYou would have to lose a child to understand. I lost my little boy when he was five months old (he was waiting for a heart transplant). I took photographs of him after he died. I hadn't had enough time with him.
ReplyDeleteI would guess that most of the children in these photographs weren't recorded in life. Photography was so expensive then.
These pictures always make me cry. One especially. Miserable children posed next to their dead mother.
ReplyDeleteThe father with the little child looks as if he may also be dead! Am I imagining this, or do I see discoloration of the hands and even the face???
ReplyDeleteI read on another site that the father with the child is also dead.
ReplyDelete