Momento Mori & Death Masks

Janson, H.W (1977). 'History of Art: A Survey of the Major Visual Arts from the Dawn of History to the Present Day'. New York: Prentice Hall. p141.
Laerdal. The Girl From The River Seine. Available: http://www.laerdal.com/gb/docid/1117082/The-Girl-from-the-River-Seine. Last accessed 10th Feb 2015.

A death mask is a mask created from the cast of a dead persons face upon passing, these masks are often made from wax or plaster of paris, in some cultures clay was also used, the purpose of which was to create an item of remembrance that was highly durable. The whole concept behind the death mask was for these masks to represent a memento mori of the previously deceased, these masks were often created and given to the family or even to painters for the purpose of creating portraits of the sitter after they had died. Janson states that the first recorded death masks are those of the infamous Ancient Egyptians which were used as part of the mummification precess whereby the dead were buried with a mask of their own face often heavily decorated and perfected. Within Ancient Egypt the mask was believed to hold the supernatural ability to strengthen the spirit and protect the dead on their way to the underworld. Due to this the masks were often highly ornate with gold and jewel embellishment as it was regarded important for the dead to carry their riches through to the next life, therefore by placing such jewels into the mask was a direct embodiment of their wealth and success. 
By 1876 an archaeologist by the name of Heinrich Schliemann discovered six graves which were apparently confirmed to belong to a series of kings and queen from Greek legend. However the idea of the masks actually belonging to Greek heroes was considered unrealistic and therefore the theory was abandoned. The masks however became another example of the substance used to create a death mask, in this instance it was a heavy type of clay. The clay was so heavy that it had visibly distorted some of the features of the dead such as noses and mouths, therefore the dead were somewhat unidentifiable. 

Girl from the River Seine
http://madmikesamerica.com/2011/05/
the-unknown-woman-of-the-seine/

Perhaps the most famous of all death masks however is that of the 'Girl from the River Seine', during the late 1880's the body of a young woman was pulled form the River Seine in Paris. As there was no visible distress to the body it was presumed to be a successful suicide attempt and due to the inability to establish an identity for the young woman a death masks was created, as was customary in the event on un-identification upon death. However what remains most fascinating about this girls death mask is that of her looks, it is reported by many that her face was one of ethereal beauty and carried a soft smile that gave the appearance of a peaceful sleep as opposed to grim suicide. Her smile was even compared to that of the infamous Mona Lisa smile. Al Alvarez wrote in 'The Savage God'' "I am told that a whole generation of German girls modelled their looks on her". The death mask was so infamous that it even became the model of modern science when it was rediscovered by Asmund S. Laerdal, the mask was used to develop the level of realism in first aid training, in particular mouth to mouth resuscitation. The training manikin 'Resusci Anne' was then formed during 1960 from a cast of the infamous death mask.