death masks

Death mask of William Shakespeare, 1616 AD (Public Domain). Shakespeare, an influential figure of Elizabethan England, is known for his plays and sonnets, and is considered to be the most famous writer of the English language. Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616, at the age of 52. He died within a month of signing his will, a document which he begins by describing himself as being in "perfect health". No extant contemporary source explains how or why he died.

28 October, 2022 - 01:59 Joanna Gillan

History’s REAL Faces: 15 Death Masks of Famous and Infamous Figures

The closed eyes and uncannily peaceful expressions of death masks are frozen in time, and show us a side of royalty, of military and political masters, of profound thinkers and artists, and of the...

Remains from the funerary pyre of Philip II. (Macedonian Heritage / CC BY-SA 3.0)

20 December, 2019 - 22:30 David Grant

Orphic Masks and Burial Rituals: Unmasking King Philip II of Macedon

That is the gods’ work, spinning threads of death through the lives of mortal men, and all to make a song for those to come. Homer The ancient Greek world was steeped in superstition and...

Death Mask

11 October, 2014 - 12:58 lizleafloor

The eerie masks that preserve history and breathe life into the dead

Masks are one of the few things on the earth that connect all of humanity throughout time. We have created masks since our very beginnings in order to disguise, protect, or entertain. They have been...