Mourning is a strange thing, and different cultures deal with it in vastly different ways. But there’s a reason people associate the Victorians above all with morbidity and death, and one of them is
memento mori like this:
The fact is, postmortem photographs like this were taken more than any other kind of photograph in the Victorian era — especially in the U.S.
So, given your lack of a “culturally normative response” to these pictures, dear reader, we advise the faint of heart among you to click elsewhere.
“Child in Coffin at the Death Room”
did you notice the strange silhouette on the right side of the picture
the photographer’s assistant, holding the casket lid open
For me, though, more intriguing than the dead are the living who pose with them
and heartbreaking. (Above and below: siblings with their brothers.)
Another common theme in Victorian-era postmortem photography was the staged scene of mourning
“Orphans at Their Mother’s Grave”:
the dead were posed to look alive
clipped from: www.mentalfloss.com 