Death mask
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Voltaire's retouched Death Mask (with opened eyes) |
A
death mask is a
plaster or
wax cast made of a person's face following
death. Death masks may be mementos of the dead, or be used for creation of
portraits. It is sometimes possible to identify portraits that have been painted from death masks, because of the characteristic slight distortions of the features caused by the weight of the plaster during the making of the mould.
In the
seventeenth century, it was common for death masks to be used as part of the
effigy of the deceased, displayed at state funerals. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they were also used to permanently record the features of corpses for the purposes of identification. This function was later replaced by
photography.
Proponents of
phrenology and
ethnography also used both death masks and life masks (taken from living subjects) for scientific and
pseudoscientific purposes.
Actor
Tor Johnson is the subject of one of the most famous purported death masks of all time. His likeness was made into a
Halloween mask that has been a best-seller to this day. However, it appears to be an
urban legend that this mask was crafted from his death mask. Most likely, it was made from a cast of his face taken by the make-up department during the filming of one of his many horror films.
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Laurence Hutton Collection of Life and Death Masks
