Our awareness of our own mortality is one of the defining features that makes us human. Death has fascinated people across time and history. Symbols of death have appeared in the material culture of most civilisations.
What is memento mori?
A memento mori is an object that serves to remind the viewer of the inevitability of their death and the brevity of life. ‘Memento mori’ is a Latin phrase that translates to ‘remember you must die.’ Memento mori objects can take many forms - paintings, statues, coins, ceramics, jewellery, just to name a few. What unites them is the symbolism that they employ. Common symbols include skeletons, skulls, hourglasses, flowers, and extinguished candles.
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Wooden representation of a human skull with an inscription Memento Mori, European, 17th to 19th century
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Memento Mori watch in the shape of a skull. This watch has acquired an international reputation as the one given by Mary Queen of Scots to Mary Seaton, on her way to her execution. In fact it is one of three, first recorded in 1822.
The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers/Clarissa Bruce
Memento mori figures were used to remember the dead and remind the living of the fragility of life. half head, half skull, mounted on a ivory and wooden stand, possibly Italian, possibly 19th century
Science Museum GroupMemento mori in the ancient world
Memento Mori were important in many ancient societies. Prominent philosophers across antiquity like Socrates, Seneca, and Epicurus reflected on mortality. Many people believed that the impermanence of life made it meaningful.
Ancient Romans would reflect on their own mortality at banquets and feasts. At some feasts, every guest would be presented with a small memento mori. These small skeletons were called larva convivialis, which translates to ‘banquet ghost’. They were sometimes made with articulates joints, so that guests could make them dance and join in on the festivities.
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The ancient writer Petronius mentions larvae convivalis in his novel Satyricon. In the book, the host of the banquet, Trimalchio, brings out the skeletons and recites a poem, telling guests to eat and drink before ‘hell drags us off.’ The dinner gifts reminded guests to have fun while they were alive.
Some feasts would use decorated dinner sets adorned with skeletons, classic memento mori imagery that would invoke the shortness of life. These silver cups are copies of ancient Roman chalices made between 25BCE and 50CE.
The cup is decorated with the skeletons of ancient philosophers, including Epicurus and Zeno. These thinkers had different beliefs about how life should be led but both appreciated the ethos of memento mori. Between them is the phrase ‘enjoy yourself while you live’ engraved in Ancient Greek script.
The danse macabre in medieval Europe
The danse macabre, or the dance of death, is a medieval allegory on the universality of death. It has been told through visual arts, drama, poetry, and music since the late Middle Ages. The dance is a type of memento mori that depicts decaying corpses and skeletons engaged in a dance with the living, leading them to their inevitable fate. Danse macabre imagery functioned as a memento mori for the largely illiterate population. Paintings and statues were a good way to get messages across to people that couldn’t read poems and novels.
The living dancers are from across the ranks of medieval society. Dancers featured would typically include a pope, an emperor, a king, a nobleman, a knight, a merchant, a doctor, a painter, and a child, to name just a few. This shows the indiscriminate nature of death; death will come for everyone, regardless of wealth, title, or class and we all become equal when we die.
Early danse macabre art featured on church walls and in cemeteries. The earliest example was painted in the Cemetery of the Innocents, Paris, in 1424. Another was painted onto the walls of a Dominican cemetery in Basel, Switzerland, in 1441. The danse macabre statues in the collection are later creations modelled after medieval artworks.
The danse macabre was created during a difficult period in history. During the 13th and 14th centuries, Europe was struck by a series of deadly events. There were great famines, bloody wars, and several plagues of infectious diseases that decimated the continent’s population. The Black Death killed between 30 and 50% of the European population. Death was an oppressive presence in the lives of medieval people, and this exacerbated fear and curiosity about death and dying.
Danse gallery
Two skeletons with pipe and drum, they are standing in front of a charnel house, stuffed full of skulls. The skeletons are in a scene called ‘Death Calling the Dance.’ It is one of a set of 37 statues representing the dance in which death summons reluctant mortal revellers to join his dance. The story of Death Calling the Dance is reputedly of German origin.
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Plaster statue a depicting cadaver leading away a Duke by the hand
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Painted plaster statue depicting Death as a cadaverous old man grasping a choir-master (Canon) by one hand, printed inscription in German, probably 1750-1870
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Depicted on the statue is an emaciated plague sufferer lying on the ground surrounded by a frog and a lizard. The wooden carving is thought to have been made during the 1600s when Europe suffered devastating outbreaks of bubonic plague.
Science Museum GroupThe three living and the three dead
Another medieval motif that was popular around the same time as the danse macabre was ‘The Three Living and The Three Dead.’ This was a visual and literary memento mori that depicted the meeting between three living noblemen or princes and three animated corpses in progressively more advanced stages of decay. The three living characters express alarm and disgust at the sight of the dead. The three dead then remind the nobles that they were once like them and caution them to consider the ephemeral nature of life. They warn the nobles to improve their behaviour before it is too late.
The British Library
Religion was central in the lives of European people in the Middle Ages. It was hoped that when people thought about the immediacy and inevitability of death that they would be inspired to live holier lives. People believed that they would then be rewarded with eternal life in heaven rather than hell. A medieval audience would have interpreted both the danse macabre and ‘The Three Living and Three Dead’ as calls to piety.
A beggar, a witch, a king and a beauty
Other motifs about the universal nature of death gained prominence in the medieval period and were revisited in the centuries after. One example is the four skulls, an image that featured on snuff boxes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The illustration represents Death as a social leveller, meaning that it will come to all people regardless of their social status, wealth, or beauty. The pattern has been seen in material culture since the 13th century. One theory suggests that the design is based on a Greek urn featuring images of skeletons with a passer by being asked if they can tell whether the living person was beautiful or ugly.
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Depicting decay in memento mori waxworks
Towards the end of the 1600s, artists began to create realistic anatomical waxworks that functioned as memento moris. Wax coloured with pigments emulated the gruesome waxy appearance of human flesh in various states of decay.
One of the earliest influential sculptors to popularise these waxworks was a Sicilian wax modeller called Gaaetano Giulio Zumbo (1656-1701). He created a wax tableau that vividly depicted scenes of sickness and death, using graphic presentations of putrefaction as memento mori. Zumbo was inspired by the scholarship of the scientist Francesco Redi (1626-1698), a doctor who conducted experiments on rotting meat to observe its decay and infestation with maggots and flies. The creation of wax anatomical models was based on observing real corpses.
Science Museum Group Collection © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Science Museum Group Collection © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
This wax model of a plague scene, sculpted by Gregorius Lenti in 1657, is similar in style to the works of Zumbo and his contemporaries. It is likely Italian and may depict the bout of plague that affected Naples in 1656. The Latin inscription painted on the slab lying next to the rotting corpse reads “Hodie, mihi, cras, tibi”, which translates as “It is my lot today, yours tomorrow”.
Sculptors created anatomical waxes that were used by doctors to study the human body. These offered a look inside the human body in realistic detail, showing skin, muscles and organs. Anatomical waxes functioned as public memento moris. They could be viewed publicly in open medical theatres and in spaces like La Secola in Florence, Italy, a natural history museum which was founded in 1775. When people viewed the realistic anatomical waxes, they saw reflected their own mortality.
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The wax vanitas
Vanitas is a genre of art that was popular in Europe from the 16th to 18th century. These artworks used symbolism to remind the viewer of their own mortality and the futility of wealth and material possessions in the face of death. Common symbols included skulls, candles, hourglasses, books and flowers.
The term vanitas comes from the Latin phrase 'Vanitas Vanitatum & omnia Vanitas.’ This is a biblical quote from the second verse of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. The literal translation of the phrase is ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ While in modern times, the term vanity means to be obsessed with one’s own attractiveness, it did not always have this definition. Up until the 14th century, the word vanity was synonymous with emptiness, or futility. Therefore, ‘Vanitas Vanitatum & omnia Vanitas’ also translates to ‘emptiness, all is empty.’ The verse cautions readers that the acquisition of wealth and possessions is an empty pursuit that does not preclude us from the inevitability of death.
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This wax vanitas shows the split face of a person, half living, and half dead. The skull is a symbol of death. It is shown in the process of decay, being feasted on by insects. On the living side of the vanitas, the theme of fleeting life is represented in the blossoming flowers. Once flowers bloom and reach their potential for beauty, they will wilt and die. There is also an apple, a symbol of knowledge that is also fated to rot away with time.
Although this vanitas depicts death and decay, it also contains symbols alluding to immortality. The salamander on the head of the person represents rebirth. Salamanders are amphibians that can withstand fire so have been used as a representation of victory over death. The head is also adorned with frogs, creatures that dramatically transform in their lifetime and are associated with rebirth.
The vanitas juxtaposes beauty with horror, the living with the dead. Viewers in the 1700s would take away the message that they should not neglect their religious practice because everything worldly and physical will fade and only the spirit will remain. All the things that matter so much in life – youth, beauty, wealth, knowledge – will be irrelevant in death.
Remembering the dead – mourning jewellery and hairwork
Secular relics and mourning jewellery gained popularity in 16th-century Europe when fragments of ordinary people (usually their hair or teeth) began to be made into jewellery. This jewellery would often be for mourning lost loved ones and would feature memento mori imagery, as a reminder for the living that they too would die. It would commonly feature the initials of the dead and their date of death. Common motifs included skeletons, hourglasses and tombs.
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Hair was seen as symbolic of enduring life because it retained its qualities after a person died and the hair was cut. It did not decay in the same way as bodily tissues. Because of this, it was a popular material in mourning jewellery.
Brooches would have been attached to clothing, belts, or someone’s hair with a pin or ribbon. It allowed the wearer to carry a physical part of the dead person with them. Keeping tokens of the dead helped people to process their grief and keep the memory of their loved ones alive.
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Hair jewellery may seem a bit morbid to Western people in the 21st century because we are not as accustomed to being around the dead and keeping fragments of them as people were in the past. Up until the mid-19th century, the body of a dead loved one was kept in the home in the time between death and burial (normally for between 2 and 10 days). While the body was in the home, it would be cared for by the family. The dead person’s hair would be combed and styled – at this point, it might also be cut to be made into jewellery. The family would view, sit with, and touch their loved one.
Grief and mourning became more ritualised in the nineteenth century. At this time, the iconography of mourning jewellery would have expanded from just skeletons and skulls to include more subtle death imagery. These included delicate weavings of garden scenes, floral arrangements, willow and cypress trees, graves, and urns.
Science Museum Group Collection © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Science Museum Group Collection © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Initially, memento mori jewellery like this would have been available just for the wealthy in society. Similar pieces were adorned with precious gemstones and gold, which reflected the high social status of the dead person being mourned and their family. Hairwork jewellery was available to those who could afford to commission a piece from a professional artist.
During the eighteenth century, handmade mourning jewellery became more accessible to less wealthy families as women began to learn how to make it in the home. The craft became available to a new audience with the introduction of instruction manuals and magazines that taught the craft. The skill was also passed down through the generations. Jewellery made and owned by the less wealthy would have been made of base metals like copper, pewter, or brass rather than precious metals.
Death photography
While photographing the dead may be seen as taboo by many people today, it used to be a common practice. In the mid-1800s, the new technology of photography became the favoured way of permanently preserving someone’s image. It was a more affordable way of capturing an image than having a portrait painted by a professional artist. Death photography was used to remember the dead and provide comfort and closure to the bereaved. Photographs of the dead were incorporated into mourning jewellery and memento mori.
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Many of the subjects in death photography were children. The nineteenth century had high rates of infant mortality. Grieving parents would commission after death photographs to create lasting images of their departed children. Deceased children were often posed in the arms of their parents or lying down, as if simply asleep.
Memento mori in Japan
KOSÔZU
In Japan between the 14th and 19th centuries, a form of art called Kusôzu was developed. These were paintings that depicted the process of decomposition of a (usually female) human body. The subject was derived from a traditional Buddhist doctrine that encouraged the contemplation of the nine stages of a decaying corpse (kusōkan). This principle was featured in early Buddhist texts like the Discourse of Great Wisdom (c. 405) and the Discourse on Mahayana Meditation and Contemplation (c.594). These texts explored the impermanent nature of life and encouraged readers to reflect on their own mortality. Buddhism teaches that to reach enlightenment, we must first acknowledge and accept death.
The stages of decay that feature in the artworks are usually as follows: (1) distension; (2) rupture; (3) exudation of blood; (4) putrefaction; (5) discolouration and desiccation; (6) consumption by animals and birds; (7) dismemberment; (8) bones; and (9) parched to dust.
Japan Gallery
The lady is identified with the 9th-century poetess Ono no Komachi (Chin, op. cit., pp. 296-309). In the first painting she is seated indoors at a low red table, wearing a kimono, with a scroll in her left hand, upon which she has written her farewell poem: she is pallid, and her expression is preoccupied.
Wellcome Collections
In the second, she has died, and is laid out on the floor covered to her shoulders with a blanket, with a lady and a gentleman in attendance.
Wellcome Collections
In the third, her body is out of doors, naked apart from a loincloth, on a mat, the lower part of which is folded up over her legs; her skin now has flesh tones.
Wellcome Collections
In the fourth, putrefaction has set in, and so it continues until she is a heap of bones, having been pecked at by various animals along the way.
Wellcome Collections
The final painting shows a stupa or sotoba, the symbol of the Buddha
Wellcome CollectionSkull netsuke
The symbols of skulls and skeletons were used as memento mori outside of Western culture. In Japan, skulls and skeletons are commonly featured in netsuke. Netsuke are ornate miniature sculptures used to fasten the sash of a kimono. They acted as a reminder of the transience of life and symbolised the afterlife in Japanese Buddhism.
Skull gallery
Horn netsuke, in the form of a skull with skeleton climbing over the top, signed, Japanese, 1701-1900
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Ivory model of a skull, with snake and toads coiled around the top
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Model of a skull with a snake coiled on top
Science Museum GroupConclusion
Death is one of the only certainties in life. It is the inevitable end for us all.
For many people across history, being reminded of the unavoidable truth of death has been a way to construct meaning and make the most of the time that we do have.
By delving into the darkness of death, humans have been able to create light – whether that be bringing people together to celebrate life, creating beautiful works of art, or holding on to the memory of a loved one.
