Post-Mortem photography was a common custom during the beginning of the 19th
century. It eventually replaced the older and more costly use of
posthumous paintings. With the inevntion and popularization of the
photograph came the ability for the middle class to memorialize their
loved ones. A family that could not afford a lavish funeral or beautiful
headstone could finally, at the very least, immortalize their memories
via a photograph. At a time when photographs were still new, this
practice was not perceived as morbid. Posthumous photos were a testament
to the lives of those gone before. In Victorian society birth and death
rates were almost equal. Young children in particular faced a broad
number of risks from childhood diseases to contaminated bottles and
patent medicines. Because of this most post-mortem photographs are of
small children. Most families did not take regular pictures of their
children because of the expense involved; a post-mortem photograph was
often the only picture of a child the family had. Children were
sometimes posed sitting up, with their eyes open and favorite toy in
hand, or in the arms of their mother.
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