“Remember that you die.”
“Remember, Man, that you are dust, and unto dust, you shall return."
"Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal.”
"Pale death knocks with the same tempo upon the huts of the poor and the towers of Kings."
Early 19th century mourning ring depicting weeping parents and the text “Sacred to the Memory of 5 Children”. London Museum.
Mourning Rings
Memento mori imagery was found throughout medieval Europe in art and architecture. It would often consist of a skull or skeleton. Sometimes, the skeleton would be leading a living person away to their grave, acting similarly to how we understand the Grim Reaper today. Often, they would be depicted in Christian churches but also in households. Beginning in the fourteenth century, people began to wear special mourning jewelry in memory of a person who died in addition to general memento mori items. In some cases, mourning rings would be included in wills. For example, English playwright William Shakespeare left money for several people in his will to have mourning rings crafted in order to better remember him. Early mourning rings may have only included the initials of the deceased and the date of their death. Later examples included memento mori mottos or images like a skeleton, hourglass, shovel, crossed bones, or coffin. Other rings would include the hair of the deceased too.
American Colonial Mourning Ring, 1733. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Victorian Death Photography
Victorian society was obsessed with death. That’s not very shocking; life was often brutal and short. By the middle of the nineteenth century, Victorian England had developed complex rituals and costumes for mourning. Upper classes would have entire wardrobes of black clothing where lower classes would indicate their mourning status with a black armband. Mourning portraits, or paintings made of recently-deceased people, had been made for centuries before Victorian times. But by the 1860s, the cost of having a photographic portrait done was much more reasonable.
Many people dressed up to have their picture taken for the first time as photography studios popped up across Europe and the United States. In addition to dead heads of state, middle class people were able to get photos of their deceased loved ones for the first time too. Infant mortality was still very high during the nineteenth century, and dead infants were often photographed in their mother’s arms, creating a touching memento cherished by the family.
Post-mortem photograph of German Emperor Frederick III, 1888.
Many cultures across the globe venerate ancestors and family or friends who have died. In Mexico, the Indigenous pre-Columbian traditions of ancestor worship combined with Roman Catholic feast days to create Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. The celebration which continues today is marked with decorated altars covered in marigolds and decorated sugar skulls. Toys might be left at altars for children who have passed away. Some women wear skull face makeup and fancy dresses in imitation of La Calavera Catrina, a character created by Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada in the 1910s as the personification of death.
Can you think of memento mori items or imagery that you have come across? Do you have traditions in your family that honor or remember the dead?
La Calavera Catrina by Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada, 1910.
Modern representations of La Catrina, Museo de la Ciudad, León, Guanajuato, México.