Post-mortem photography

Post-mortem photograph of the Norwegian theologian Bernhard Pauss with flowers, photographed by Gustav Borgen, Christiania, November 1907

Post-mortem photography is the practice of photographing the recently deceased. Various cultures use and have used this practice, though the best-studied area of post-mortem photography is that of Europe and America.[1] There can be considerable dispute as to whether individual early photographs actually show a dead person or not, often sharpened by commercial considerations. The form continued the tradition of earlier painted mourning portraits. Today post-mortem photography is most common in the contexts of police and pathology work.[2]

  1. ^ Norfleet, Barbara (1993). Looking at Death. Boston, MA: David R. Godine. p. 13.
  2. ^ Kapoor, Richa Rohatgi and A.K. "Importance of Still Photography at Scene of Crime: A Forensic vs. Judicial Perspective". www.crime-scene-investigator.net. Retrieved August 16, 2022.