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Recuerdo de Patay (also known as memorial portraiture, memento mori, post-mortem photography or mourning portraits) is the practice of photographing the recently deceased.
The invention of the photography made portraiture a commonplace, as many of those who were unable to afford the commission of a painted portrait could afford to sit for a photography session. This cheaper and quicker method also provided the middle class with a means for memorializing dead loved ones.
With the coming of the Americans at the turn of the century they introduced to us the post-mortem photography
This type photography was very common in the nineteenth century when "death occurred in the home and was quite an ordinary part of life." Due to photography being a new medium, it is plausible that "many post-mortem portraits, especially those of infants and young children, were probably the only photographs ever made of the 'sitters.'" Post-mortem photography flourished in photography's early decades, among clients who preferred to capture an image of a deceased loved one rather than have no photograph at all
The practice eventually peaked in popularity around the end of the 19th century and died out as "snapshot" photography became more commonplace.
The earliest post-mortem photographs are usually close-ups of the face or shots of the full body and rarely include the coffin. The subject is usually depicted so as to seem in a deep sleep, or else arranged to appear more lifelike. Children were often shown in repose on a couch or in a crib, sometimes posed with a favorite toy or other plaything. It was not uncommon to photograph very young children with a family member, most frequently the mother. Adults were more commonly posed in chairs or even braced on specially-designed frames. Flowers were also a common prop in post-mortem photography of all types.
(c) Carlo Sapiendante's FB post.
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