Memento Mori I.1

Post-mortem photography was widespread in Europe and America during the nineteenth century.

Portrait photographers performed the practice of photographing people after death, which began very early in the history of the medium, as a special service.

Like portraiture, it was at first accomplished almost exclusively by the daguerreotype process.
The making of a portrait photograph was a memorable occasion. The results had an importance for their subjects that would diminish in the twentieth century, after photography had ceased to be a novelty.