Death Masks
All life even as an agate
has poured itself into the seams of my countenance
and cast a death-mask of unrivaled beauty.
Paul Éluard, translation by Samuel Beckett
A death mask is a cast made from the face of a person who has just passed on. The tradition dates from the time of the Egyptian pharaohs. The most famous of that age is Tutankhamun’s golden mask (1354-1343 BC). Closer to today, in Europe, it was the practice to make masks of royalty and also of artists such as Beethoven, Wagner, Chopin, Liszt, Mahler, Ravel, Goethe, Schiller, Keats, Verlaine, Gide, and Courbet. When Victor Hugo died in 1885, 12 artists were invited into his room to paint, draw, photograph and make a cast of his face. Today, although the practice is less popular, it still exists. At your request, we can make a death mask of a loved one. Ask one of our counsellors.
