Sometimes there may be subtle clues in dating a photo

By coincidence I was going to plump for Spanish Flu and 1919 because they all looked dead and propped up.

 

Oh my goodness.

Afantiques, are there old postmortem photos "out there" where deceased people were "propped up" in a standing position (and not just one person, but two or three or four or more people in one photograph)?

Seriously, how quickly after death would such a photograph have to be taken?

You've opened quite a kettle of fish. Now let's see if we can get the fish thoroughly cooked. What say you?

 

I just thought they looked like a delegation from the Addams Family, not that photographer's studios really came equipped with iron gibbets and sharp 'body hooks' to cater for the occasional mass immolation of the local families, although the Victorians did have an implement for everything. Or was that just for eating?

 

Hi,
I had a photo of my 2Xgrt aunt and uncle. He died and they had no photos of them together. He was propped up on the sofa and she sat next to him with their arms linked.
You could tell he was dead and she wasn't. I ended giving the photo to a cousin on that side of the family, I did make a copy on my pc but when it crashed I lost it. That is why even today I make a copy and print it out. I HATE HATE losing photos like that.
greg

 

I was asking two serious questions about postmortem photographs.

Here are three other serious questions:

Did postmortem studio photographs ever show people with their eyes open?

If the eyelids were closed at death, could the eyelids later open?

Were the eyelids of a deceased person routinely sewn or glued shut?

When I find a fount or founts of knowledge I want a share of all the fount(s) has/have to offer.

Gregsglass, do you know the answer(s) to the three above questions?

 

Hi,
I have seen a few photos that have the eyes open but most of them have the eyes closed. Yes eyelids could be opened after rigor mortis has passed. I have never heard of eye lids being glued or sewn but I imagine that it could be done. Should clairify rigor mortis is not forever. It can help ID the time of death. After a while the body "relaxes"
again, otherwise you would have to break arms and legs to fit them into a coffin.
greg

 

Thank you, Gregsglass. I don't think I have ever seen a postmortem photo with eyes open. Then again, I probably would have presumed that with eyes open it was not postmortem (unless there were other obvious things about the "subject" which would indicate he/she was deceased).

 

Although I don't think the children look dead, they do look mighty unhappy.