Victorian Lives : Sleeping Angels: Victorian Death Photography

Victorian era parents posing with their deceased daughter. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Slum in Glasgow, 1871 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Victorians were obsessed with death because it was so much part of their daily lives. Victorian photographers many times specialized in certain areas of family photography; including post-mortem daguerreotypes. These pictures taken after a loved one had died. It was not memorial photography, that might post a small picture of a love one in life on a grave stone. These pictures were taken mostly of children. These post mortem pictures of deceased children survive in large numbers and are sought after collector's items for those with sentiment yet possibly slightly morose taste.

The young subjects of these photographs were laid out if asleep perhaps in a cradle or in the arms of the grieving parents, Many times they were also posed with their surviving siblings. Sometimes the deceased child was part of the only family portrait ever taken. In times of epidemic when there were large numbers of children succumbing to the same ailments; local photographers only took pictures of the deceased. If there were no death certificates or birth certificates issued during the period of time the child passed the death photo may have been the only record, besides the cemetery record, of the child's existence.

Changing social attitudes were reflected in death photography during the Victorian era. Pictures of children in a sentimental sleeping state were later replaced by pictures of children in coffins. This reflected the Victorians increasing obsession with the outward appearance of things associated with funeral rituals such as coffins, flowers, and grave stones. This was more evident in the late 19^th century when memorial photography with a portrait of the child while living becomes a permanent fixture on gravestones.

While we may think of the practice of Victorian death photography as morbid, Victorians had a different viewpoint .Since few photographs of most children were taken over their growing years, these photographs were often the only visual reminders grieving parents had of how their children looked at the times of their death. These pictures were not hidden away in family photo albums, but left out in parlor so all could be reminded of the family's loss and continuing love of a child that passed.

Death photography today of still born infants and those who die shortly after birth is still somewhat controversial. While some find it odd that parents would want such a reminder of their grief, others take great comfort in having pictures of a child that they were only able to see for such a short time.

Victorian death photography, especially of children has a sad, strangely positive unusual effect on those who look at the pictures today. Children that passed over a hundred years ago, project the angelic qualities that still bring tears to the eyes of those who view the pictures today.