Marking the Dead

Families often wanted dead relatives in the picture too. A posthumous portrait let a child or parent who had already died take their place among the living, sometimes years after their death.

Painters used quiet signals to mark who was gone. A small skull, a cut flower, a candle, or a cross set apart the dead from the living, so a careful viewer could read the difference. The result looked like one united family, even when some members had been absent for years.