25 Death Masks Of Historically Important People That Are As Fascinating As They Are Creepy

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

25 ****** Masks Of Historically Important People That Are As Fascinating As They Are Creepy

****** masks — made out of a wax or plaster cast put on a ***** person’s face — have long been part of human history. Below, morgue workers make a ****** mask of notorious Depression-era gangster John Dillinger, who ***** in a shootout with FBI agents on July 22, 1934.

Brandstaetter Images / Getty Images

Here’s what Dillinger’s finished ****** mask looked like (note the bullet ***** captured under his right eye):

Tim Sloan / AFP via Getty Images

For comparison, here’s a photo of Dillinger in life next to his ****** mask:

L: Bettmann / Bettmann Archive, R: Tim Sloan / AFP via Getty Images

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

were most popular from the Middle Ages through the middle of the 20th century, but they were also made earlier, including in Ancient Rome. ****** masks shouldn’t be confused with ******** masks — like the ones in Ancient Egypt — which were not made from casts of the deceased’s face but by an artist.

Why did they make ****** masks? There were a number of reasons, including:

—to remember a loved one in a time before photography.

—to be used in a ******** (sometimes these would be used to cover the deceased’s face, possibly to protect people from seeing decomposition).

—to help sculptors create a bust or monuments.

—to allow law enforcement to record the facial features of unknown corpses for later identification.

Culture Club / Art Images via Getty Images

Interesting, right? Here are 24 ****** masks of historically important people:

1.William Shakespeare

England’s legendary playwright and poet ***** on April 23, 1616, at the age of 52. In 1849, Dr. Ludwig Becker found his ****** mask in Mainz, Germany.

Though there has been debate about whether the mask belongs to Shakespeare (with some believing it is more likely to be that of English poet Ben Jonson), ******* eye specialists and forensic experts tested it in the ’90s and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

that it is indeed Shakespeare’s.

Hulton Archive / Getty Images

2.Mary, Queen of Scots

The one-time Queen of Scotland was 44 when she was beheaded on Feb. 8, 1587, for her role in a plot to overthrow her cousin Elizabeth I, the Queen of England and Ireland.

Danny Lawson – Pa Images / PA Images via Getty Images

3.Sir Isaac Newton

Newton, who discovered the laws of gravity and invented calculus, ***** on March 31, 1727, at the age of 84.

The mask was originally made so that Flemish sculptor John Michael Rysbrack could

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

for the bust of Newton at Westminster Abbey.

David Cheskin – Pa Images / PA Images via Getty Images

4.Napoleon Bonaparte

The French military genius — famous for his successful campaigns during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars…and unsuccessful one trying to invade Russia in the winter — ***** at age 51 on May 5, 1821.

Because Napoleon ***** on the remote island of St. Helena, there was a **** rush to create the materials needed to cast his face. This delay meant the mask wasn’t made until a day and a half after his ******, and as a result, decomposition had already set in. This explains the sunken eyes, hallowed cheeks, and relaxed look.

Geography Photos / Universal Images Group via Getty Images

5.Ludwig van Beethoven

The ******* classical composer and pianist, most famous for his Fifth Symphony (“Dun dun dun dun”), ***** on March 26, 1827, at the age of 56.

Interestingly, the mask on the left is a “life mask” (taken during his lifetime), while the one on the right is a ****** mask (made after he succumbed to a long illness).

Joe Klamar / AFP via Getty Images

6.John Keats

Arguably Britain’s best-known poet of the Romantic era, Keats was only 25 when he ***** of tuberculosis on Feb. 23, 1821.

Where the Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak once

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Keats’s ****** mask and was said to take it from its box and ******* its forehead occasionally.

Johnny Eggit / AFP via Getty Images

7.Vladimir Lenin

The Russian revolutionary leader ***** of a ******* at age 53 on Jan. 21, 1924. Along with the cast of his face, there are also casts of his hands.

Picture Alliance / dpa/picture alliance via Getty Images

8.Joseph Stalin

The ******* Union’s brutal dictator ***** at age 74 on March 5, 1953, of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Contributor / Getty Images

9.Frida Kahlo

The beloved ******** painter ***** at age 47 on July 13, 1954. She had many physical ailments in life (especially in her later years) and is believed to have ***** of a pulmonary embolism, although some speculate she ***** by ********.

Her ****** mask can be seen at the Casa Azul in Mexico City, the museum dedicated to Kahlo and her art.

Andrew Hasson / Getty Images

10.Robert E. Lee

The Confederate general — who surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, marking the beginning of the end of the ********* Civil War — ***** on Oct. 12, 1870, at age 63.

Lee

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

the ****** mask himself. It was later used as the basis for a memorial sculpture at Lee University.

Win Mcnamee / Getty Images

11.William Burke

The Scottish mass ********* — who, along with his partner William Hale, ******* 16 people and sold their bodies to a doctor who dissected the bodies during his anatomy lectures — was hanged on Jan. 28, 1829, at age 37.

In a macabre twist, Burke’s corpse was publicly dissected in the anatomy theatre of the University of Edinburgh. His ****** mask, and a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

made of his skin (!) are on display at Scotland’s Surgeon’s Hall Museum.

David Cheskin – Pa Images / PA Images via Getty Images

12.Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Russian classical composer (who wrote Swan Lake) ***** at age 53 on Nov. 6, 1893, likely of cholera, although some believe he may have ***** by ********.

Heritage Images / Getty Images

13.Frederick Douglass

The brilliant author, abolitionist, and civil rights leader ***** of a heart ******* on Feb. 20, 1895, after attended a meeting of the National Council of Women. He was 77.

Sculptor Ulric Dunbar came to Douglass’s Washington, DC home the day after his ****** and created this ****** mask.

The Washington Post / The Washington Post via Getty Images

14.E. E. Cummings

The legendary ********* poet (known for his poems written in lowercase letters) ***** of a ******* on Sept. 3, 1962 at the age of 67.

Boston Globe / Boston Globe via Getty Images

15.James Joyce

The famed Irishman, author of the literary masterpiece Ulysses, ***** at the age of 58 on Jan. 13, 1941, following surgery for an ulcer.

Sculptor Paul Speck made three original masks of Joyce on Jan. 13. The one above is now located at the ******* States Library of Congress.

Fran Caffrey / AFP via Getty Images

16.Friedrich Nietzsche

The influential ******* philosopher ***** of a ******* on Aug. 25, 1900, at the age of 55.

His ****** mask was made by painter Curt Stoeving, who was inexperienced making ****** masks. As a result, the finished product

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, complete with a nose pushed off to the side (they broke Nietzsche’s nose during the plastering process). Nietzsche’s sister later had other artists fix its flaws.

Picture Alliance / picture alliance via Getty Images

17.Anna Pavlova

The Russian prima ballerina was the star of the Imperial Russian Ballet and toured the world performing. She ***** of pleurisy on Jan. 23, 1931, at age 49.

In addition to a ****** mask, a cast of the dancer’s leg was also made at the time of her ******.

Ullstein Bild Dtl. / ullstein bild via Getty Images

18.Nikola Tesla

The famed inventor who revolutionized our understanding of electricity ***** of a coronary thrombosis on Jan. 7, 1943, at the age of 86.

Tesla ***** in ********, but Hugo Gernsback, a long-time friend,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

a sculptor to create a ****** mask. It’s presently displayed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Serbia.

Sopa Images / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

19.Dante Alighieri

The Italian poet famous for the Divine Comedy ***** of malaria on Sept. 14, 1321, at about 56 years of age.

His ****** mask has been displayed at Palazzo Vecchio (the town hall of Florence, Italy) since 1911.

David Lees / Getty Images

20.Franz Liszt

The Hungarian classical composer and pianist ***** at age 74 on July 31, 1886, from pneumonia.

Ullstein Bild / ullstein bild via Getty Images

21.Martin Luther

One of the most consequential figures in ********** history, Luther — who launched the *********** Reformation and became the basis of Lutheranism — ***** at age 82 on Feb. 18, 1546.

Artist Lukas Furtenagel created a plaster mask of Luther’s face and hands at his deathbed. They now reside at the Market ******* in Halle, Germany.

Picture Alliance / picture alliance via Getty Images

22.Ishi

Ishi — who would have many books and films made about his life — was the last survivor of the Native ********* Yahi people, who were massacred by the US government and private citizens during the California Genocide. He lived among anthropologists at the University of Berkeley before dying of tuberculosis on March 25, 1916, at around 56 years of age.

Werner Forman / Universal Images Group via Getty Images

23.Oliver Cromwell

One of the most important figures in British history, Cromwell — military leader and Lord Protector of England — ***** at 59 on Sept. 3, 1658, likely from sepsis.

Heritage Images / Heritage Images / Getty Images

24.Michael Collins

The Irish revolutionary, who was so pivotal to his people’s ****** for independence, was assassinated on Aug. 22, 1922, at the age of 31.

Albert Power, the artist tasked with making the ****** mask, felt Collins had “fine ears” and decided to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

in the mask, which was not always done.

Niall Carson – Pa Images / PA Images via Getty Images

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#****** #Masks #Historically #Important #People #Fascinating #Creepy

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up