26 death masks of famous historical figures

Categories: Celebrities | History | World |

Death masks were made from the middle ages until the nineteenth century. It was not just a photo in memory of the man, and the cast accuracy of details conveyed the appearance of the deceased for posterity. Thanks casts from the past, we know today, looked like many famous historical figures. In this collection – a collection of death masks of some of the people included in the story.

26 death masks of famous historical figures

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Isaac Newton (1643-1727)

The scheme of creating death masks for many years was unchanged. The face of the deceased lubricated or protected with gauze, then applied a clay or wax to make a mold.

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer (1860-1911)

Once the material has dried, the resulting mask was removed. Such plaster casts did with persons deceased members of the Royal family and nobility, as well as prominent personalities, composers, playwrights, military and political figures, philosophers, poets and scientists.

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Horatio Nelson, the British naval commander, Vice-Admiral (1758-1805)

As in Ancient Rome, death masks were often used for making sculptures, busts or portraits of the dead.

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Mask, presumably belonging to William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

In other cultures a death mask was "the funeral" – it was buried with the deceased.

26 death masks of famous historical figures

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

The most famous of such mask from Ancient Egypt, which was part of the mummification process (mask of Tutankhamun), and the mask of Mycenaean Greece (mask of Agamemnon).

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)

Death mask lost popularity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

After the death of Queen Victoria of great Britain, her grandson, Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany, tried to make her death mask, but members of the Royal family stopped him – they knew how the Queen doesn't like them.

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Oliver Cromwell, English military and political leader (1599-1658)

With the advent of photography post-mortem mask has almost disappeared.

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

John Keats, the poet of the younger generation of English romantics (1795-1821)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Felix Mendelssohn, German composer (1809-1847)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher (1770-1831)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer (1811-1886)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

William Blake, English poet (1757 – 1827)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

James Joyce, Irish writer (1882-1941)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Johannes Brahms, German composer (1833-1897)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Cosima Wagner (1837-1930) – the composer, the second wife of the German composer Richard Wagner

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Lorenzo de ' Medici (1449-1492), Florentine statesman

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter (1862-1918)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Mary Stuart (1542-1587), Queen of Scots

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the great German poet (1749-1832)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

George Washington (1732-1799)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

26 death masks of famous historical figures

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

Keywords: Death | History | Celebrities | World | Collection | Mask | Fame | Personality

     

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