Death Masks in History
In history humanity has always revered the
passing of a person in ways. One of the more intriguing is the preparation and
creation of death masks, a final viewing of the deceased face. Death masks
first gained notoriety in Egypt, the most recognisable belonging to King Tut.
The Egyptians believed that the death mask, which would be buried with them,
would allow the person's spirit to find his/her body in the afterlife successfully.
In some African tribes it was believed that
death masks could imbue the wearer with the power of the deceased. But in the
Middle Ages, they became less of a spiritual commodity and more of a way of
preserving the memory of the dead. Death masks were made for a range of famous
and notable people and were put on display for many to see. In the cases of people whose faces were damaged by their death, it was common to take casts of their hands. In a time
before photography this could be as close to the real thing as you might get.
The facial features of unidentified bodies were sometimes preserved by creating death masks so that relatives of the deceased could recognize them if they were seeking a missing person.
Many famous people in history have their faces made into death masks, such as....
Mary Queen of Scotts (below)
John Keats
William Blake
I like the idea that a death masks shows the person as real as it could be. They show every feature, line, shape, texture and size of the persons face. It shows the persons identity in their faces, not be any other feature. I understand how some may believe that by having a death mask, it would help them reach the after life and reconnect with their spirit.
