With the approach of Halloween I looked up "masks" on Google and inadvertently stumbled on these. They're death masks, probably of well-known people, but I don't recognize them.
They all look like people I'd like to have known. How sad to see them like this, with their nobility intact but bereft of life.
In a comment Steve Worth says this (above) is Beethoven,
The faces are so striking. A passage from the Bible comes to mind: "What is man that Thou art mindful of him?"
This man (above) looks like death came on him in his sleep.
This woman (above) appears to be smiling. Could that be? Would anybody ever smile at the moment of death? In a comment Kelly Toon has this to say about the mask:
The smiling woman has a very interesting history. She was a girl of about 15, whose body was taken from the Siene river. Her face had such a serenity and peace despite her tragic end, that she became a well-known and sought after mask. Many artists used her as reference and inspiration.
The faces also remind me of the lines from
Hamlet: "What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god: the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals. And yet to me what is this quintessence of dust?"
5 comments:
The smiling woman has a very interesting history. She was a girl of about 15, whose body was taken from the Siene river. Her face had such a serenity and peace despite her tragic end, that she became a well-known and sought after mask. Many artists used her as reference and inspiration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Inconnue_de_la_Seine
One of my favorite items in the Smithsonian collection is a "Life mask" of Abe Lincoln. He "posed" for it a few weeks before his assassination. I took a ton of photos of it, though you have to fight glare from the protective glass surround. You can be mere inches away from the incredible detail that a direct cast reveals. Awe inspiring.
number 2 is Beethoven
Check out the Lincoln life masks at http://3d.si.edu/browser
Kelly: Thanks for the link! I still can't imagine such a serene face on a suicide victim. It seems to me that the body would desperately fight for life even if the mind welcomed it.
Steve: Thanks!
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