Library of Death Masks
Princeton University hosts the Laurence Hutton Collection of Life and Death Masks. Shown above (L to R): Franz Liszt, Isaac Newton, Thomas Paine, Pope Pius IX, and Daniel Webster. Will the Hutton Collection now aquire a copy of Shakespeare’s recently authenticated death mask?
Hutton’s gorgeous and haunting book Portraits in Plaster
is hard to come by these days, but the 1929 book Undying Faces: A Collection of Death Masks by Ernst Benkard was recently reprinted by Kessinger Publishing.
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on Tuesday, March 7th, 2006 at 12:24 am and is filed under death, death masks, wax museum.
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March 7th, 2006 at 11:59 pm
What would be cool is if someone used a 3D probe to scan the information (open source, hopefully) so you could import it into your CAD program and either CNC mill or RP a copy for your home, some interesting art, etc…
May 2nd, 2006 at 11:49 pm
What would be even more cool is if Princeton would actually display the masks. As it stands, most are sitting in boxes on shelves in dusty back rooms and closets, some even unmarked so nobody knows who they are. What a shame and a bit of an insult to Laurence Hutton, who put together this collection. What’s the point of having a collection like this if nobody’s going to see it?
November 12th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
The Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI has Lincoln’s death mask. He was hideously ugly.
April 5th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Laurence Hutton was my Great Grandfather. I’ve always hoped to see the collection one day.
I find it interesting that he was such a collector of the masks but the collection does not contain his death mask.
August 31st, 2007 at 4:13 pm
If you are a collector of death masks, please contact us at athanasius@kirchersociety.org.
December 2nd, 2007 at 6:25 am
we seek a copy of the famous death mask l’Inconnue de la Seine……can you advise?
yours, C.Barber