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Thread: Death Masks

  1. #1
    rjbrasher Guest

    Death Masks

    I been wondering what was the point of the death masks long ago? Was it their way of remembering the dead like a photograph?

  2. #2
    relander Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by rjbrasher View Post
    I been wondering what was the point of the death masks long ago? Was it their way of remembering the dead like a photograph?
    First used for religious purposes, rituals (ancient egypt) and magic, mainly to fend off evil spirits. Later in history they were considered mementos of the dead.

  3. #3
    Harry in Connecticut Guest
    I saw a life mask of Mr Lincoln once, along with casts of his hands.

    He was a big man, I can tell you that.

    Oh sorry, I can't help with the 'why' of it.
    Last edited by Harry in Connecticut; 10-08-2007 at 10:40 AM. Reason: To add to my comment

  4. #4
    seamuskaxen Guest
    There is a site with famous peoples death masks. I don´t have the name of it anymore, since my computer decided that it would be fun to delete some of my stuff. My favorite deathmask of the once on that site was James Dean.

  5. #5
    HETFIELD Guest
    You can buy replicas on ebay both alive and dead of famous people.

  6. #6
    ST Moron Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by rjbrasher View Post
    I been wondering what was the point of the death masks long ago?
    Have you seen the Wiki write-up?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_mask

    I think I now understand why some of the old portraits I've seen have never quite sat well with me: they were painted based on death masks.

  7. #7
    magblax Guest
    Here is a link to view some Death Masks...

    http://libweb.princeton.edu/librarie...ist.html#names

    I think they are beautiful! I bet there could be a market for these today. They also used to make "Life Masks" and some even do just the hands. A nice keepsake. Another lost art which still has some following are Grave Rubbings.

  8. #8
    pvezz Guest
    Has anyone seen this site? www.thanatos.net. I was only there once; I'm not sure what it's all about...

  9. #9
    magblax Guest
    here is a link to view celebrity life masks...
    http://www.sapsema.org/lifemask.html

  10. #10
    magblax Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by pvezz View Post
    Has anyone seen this site? www.thanatos.net. I was only there once; I'm not sure what it's all about...
    Thanatos is the Greek God of Death (personification of death and mortality)...I looked it up on Wikipedia

    Looks like an interesting website!

  11. #11
    mommafreak Guest
    Wow, those are awesome

  12. #12
    different kind of girl Guest
    those were fantastic! thanks for sharing.

  13. #13
    RoRo Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by magblax View Post
    Here is a link to view some Death Masks...

    http://libweb.princeton.edu/librarie...ist.html#names

    I think they are beautiful! I bet there could be a market for these today. They also used to make "Life Masks" and some even do just the hands. A nice keepsake. Another lost art which still has some following are Grave Rubbings.
    Interesting ! But Lincoln's kinda freaked me out, what's with the eye sockets (shudders)
    Last edited by RoRo; 10-20-2007 at 09:37 PM.

  14. #14
    Scarsguardianstalkr Guest
    memento mori is another interesting some of the pics are amazing and i find it so amazing that people used to keep these types of things on their mantels were as today that would be considered morbid in most western homes

  15. #15
    Queen_Death_Hag Guest

    Death Masks

    I found this really cool site with life & death masks.

    http://libweb.princeton.edu/librarie...ist.html#names

  16. #16
    Jenny Mulhenny Guest
    I like these because they show you a more accurate representation of what some historical figures looked like than the paintings of the era, which were too stylized in my opinion.

  17. #17
    RaRaRamona Guest
    I love seeing these. I never knew James Dean had one, interesting.

  18. #18
    Bigfoot Guest
    Cool! Thanks for sharing

  19. #19
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    Very cool!

    I just sent a link to the site to my husband. He's not much into death haggery but something tells me he'll be interested in the pics for his genealogy research. That and he's a big history buff.
    .

  20. #20
    Jack-O-Lantern Guest
    I remember there being a lot of these on display at Madame Tussaud's in London...and of course I spent an inordinate amount of time staring at them...screw the wax figures, the death masks were FAR more interesting!

  21. #21
    RaRaRamona Guest
    I wonder why some of the people had more than one death mask & they were so different.

  22. #22
    Jenny Mulhenny Guest
    I just have to add, because this has been bothering me, that the Shakespeare mask is clearly a sculpture made with artistic license. There are no human characteristics and it looks just like what every artist imagines that Shakespeare, if he/she existed, looked like. And I have an English degree so I can say that.

  23. #23
    RaRaRamona Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Jenny Mulhenny View Post
    I just have to add, because this has been bothering me, that the Shakespeare mask is clearly a sculpture made with artistic license. There are no human characteristics and it looks just like what every artist imagines that Shakespeare, if he/she existed, looked like. And I have an English degree so I can say that.
    I thought Queen of the the Scotts looked that way too.

  24. #24
    Jenny Mulhenny Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by RaRaRamona View Post
    I thought Queen of the the Scotts looked that way too.
    Yes, she did, and so did Elizabeth I. Too bad; I wanted to know how they actually looked.

  25. #25
    PvN73 Guest
    They have the death masks on display of the prisioners that were hanged at the Old Melbourne here.

    They used to do the masks so that they could study of the skull to predict criminal behaviour. It is weird to see them up close though...

  26. #26
    Jenny Mulhenny Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by PvN73 View Post
    They have the death masks on display of the prisioners that were hanged at the Old Melbourne here.

    They used to do the masks so that they could study of the skull to predict criminal behaviour. It is weird to see them up close though...
    Okay, so now this makes a little more sense.

  27. #27
    PvN73 Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Jenny Mulhenny View Post
    Okay, so now this makes a little more sense.
    Exactly - phrenology the study of the skull... it took them a while but they finally figured out it was a load of crap and stopped doing the death masks on executed criminals here

  28. #28
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    Death Masks

    In the days before photography there was a way to preserve a pefect likeness of someone: death masks. There were also life masks but it was such an uncomfortable process on the living that few had them made. For your viewing pleasure: Julius Caesar, Mary Quenn of Scots, Oliver Cromwell (my avatar) ,Isaac Newton, and Napoleon:
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    "Everybody is born, and everybody dies. Being born wasn't so bad , was it?"
    Peter the Hermit

  29. #29
    ozzysmom Guest
    Wow...Mary Queen of Scots looks so real. She was much younger than I had always thought.

  30. #30
    ozzysmom Guest
    Love the smirk on Ceasars face.

  31. #31
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    More dead pusses to gaze upon: Thomas Paine, Ludvig von Beethoven, Fred Chopin, U.S. Grant, and Peter Lorre
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    "Everybody is born, and everybody dies. Being born wasn't so bad , was it?"
    Peter the Hermit

  32. #32
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    Well folks, I uploaded peter Lorre and he didn't show up. I tried to upload it again and I was told I had already uploaded the file! I'll try again tommorow.
    "Everybody is born, and everybody dies. Being born wasn't so bad , was it?"
    Peter the Hermit

  33. #33
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    Wow, Beethoven looks tortured even in death. And he really did look like all the paintings I've seen. It's sort of comforting to see that from looking at a mask taken just after he'd died. It's the closest real likeness we have to him living.

    Beethoven is my favorite composer.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  34. #34
    guardmom2008 Guest
    Grant looked the same.

  35. #35
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    Thomas Paine looks almost happy!

  36. #36
    beatlebaby4 Guest
    those are neat.

  37. #37
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    Ned Kelly, Australian bushranger. If you look at the line between the two images and cross your eyes you get three images in a row. The middle one is in 3D.

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    From this site: http://www.denheldid.com/twohuts/story10.html

    Wiki on Ned: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly
    Last edited by neilmpenny; 04-16-2009 at 10:44 PM.
    I am a sick puppy....woof woof!!!
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  38. #38
    Pryncis Guest
    The one for Newton looks a lot like Robin Williams...

  39. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by ozzysmom View Post
    Wow...Mary Queen of Scots looks so real. She was much younger than I had always thought.
    She was 44 when she died... but the mask makes her look somewhat younger..

    Cool thread... keep them coming
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Love is the answer - and you know that for sure.

  40. #40
    Nicksmorbidfascination Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by neilmpenny View Post
    Ned Kelly, Australian bushranger. If you look at the line between the two images and cross your eyes you get three images in a row. The middle one is in 3D.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    From this site: http://www.denheldid.com/twohuts/story10.html

    Wiki on Ned: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly
    This took me so long to see the middle head....for a moment i thought you were shittin me!

  41. #41
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    Way cool huh?
    I am a sick puppy....woof woof!!!
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Carping the living shit out of the Diem. - Me!!
    http://www.pinterest.com/neilmpenny

  42. #42
    ajlposh Guest
    Go to Vincent Price's thread. You can see his death mask.

  43. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pryncis View Post
    The one for Newton looks a lot like Robin Williams...
    I was thinking the same thing.

  44. #44
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    Producers of The Crow did a life mask of Brandon Lee, and when he died, his double wore it in several scenes. How ironic is that?
    GOD IS NOT DEAD





  45. #45
    sunshine74137 Guest
    Mary Queen of Scots was really pretty, I just read this week that her mouth opened and closed for 15 minutes after she was beheaded, I couldn't stop thinking about that when I was lookin at her mask, creeped me bad

  46. #46
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    Quote Originally Posted by sunshine74137 View Post
    Mary Queen of Scots was really pretty, I just read this week that her mouth opened and closed for 15 minutes after she was beheaded, I couldn't stop thinking about that when I was lookin at her mask, creeped me bad
    Yep that´s creepy.... it also took several blows by the axe before, she was dead... he last words were "Dear God", after the axe hit her in the shoulder Descriptions of her and paintings claims, that she was quite a beauty, and now the mask proves it for me...
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Love is the answer - and you know that for sure.

  47. #47
    sunshine74137 Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by AnneBoleyn View Post
    Yep that´s creepy.... it also took several blows by the axe before, she was dead... he last words were "Dear God", after the axe hit her in the shoulder Descriptions of her and paintings claims, that she was quite a beauty, and now the mask proves it for me...
    That was a different lady she was in her 70's and refused to put her head down the first blow hit her sholder then the executioner chased her around hacking her to death, Mary took two blows the first severed most of her head and the second was just to separate a bit of skin still attached. I'll try and find the bit on who the other woman was I think Henry the XIII ordered her execution for treason.

  48. #48
    sunshine74137 Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by AnneBoleyn View Post
    Yep that´s creepy.... it also took several blows by the axe before, she was dead... he last words were "Dear God", after the axe hit her in the shoulder Descriptions of her and paintings claims, that she was quite a beauty, and now the mask proves it for me...
    Margaret Countess of Salisbury heres a bit about her execution
    Henry kept her a prisoner in the Tower for a further two years. Then, following an abortive conspiracy in the north, he had her executed on May 27th 1541. Margaret did not realise what was happening. When she was told to lay her head on the block she set off to wander slowly and aimlessly around Tower Green. She was forcibly returned to the block, but the executioner was young and inexperienced. Perhaps put off by the advanced age and obvious senility of the old Countess, he botched the execution. It was not until the third or fourth stroke of the axe that Margaret's head was severed from her body.

    And here's Mary queen of Scots--Then she, lying very still upon the block, one of the executioners holding her slightly with one of his hands, she endured two strokes of the other executioner with an axe, she making very small noise or none at all, and not stirring any part of her from the place where she lay: and so the executioner cut off her head, saving one little gristle, which being cut asunder, he lift up her head to the view of all the assembly and bade God save the Queen. Then, her dress of lawn [i.e. wig] from off her head, it appeared as grey as one of threescore and ten years old, polled very short, her face in a moment being so much altered from the form she had when she was alive, as few could remember her by her dead face. Her lips stirred up and a down a quarter of an hour after her head was cut off.

  49. #49
    frosty Guest
    interesting stuff, i'm sure madame tussuade did a few famous ones over the years, nowadays they are called lifecasts or facecasts, i have a few including sean connery, anthony hopkins, arnie, i've been under the alginate myself a few times, not for the faint hearted!

  50. #50
    Nosgothic Guest

    Alfred Hitchcock

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