The Morthouse

None can narrate that strife in the pines,
A seal is on it — Sabaean lore!
Obscure as the wood, the entangled rhyme
But hints at the maze of war —
Vivid glimpses or livid through peopled gloom,
And fires which creep and char —
A riddle of death, of which the slain
Sole solvers are.

—Herman Melville, “The Armies of the Wilderness” 

Image: Skulls remaining on the field and trees destroyed at the Battle of the Wilderness, 1864, Virginia. Source: Wikipedia.

Illustration by Angelo Jank in the German art magazine Jugend, No. 13, 1897: “Der Tod im Baum.”

(Source: kickmeinthefaceplease, via theblurofserenity)

oldrussia:

The bride bed with Death.

By Viktor Korolkov.

Lydia Dwight Dead; made by John Dwight’s Fulham Pottery; England; 1674. Source: V&A Museum.

One of the earliest experiments in European ceramic sculpture, this object was commissioned by the father of the dead child in order to capture her likeness and perpetuate her memory. It was a personal and private sculpture, reflecting the grief of the little girl’s family, and perhaps not intended for open display in the house. […]

Lydia Dwight was six years old when she died on 3 March 1674 (1673 by the Old Calendar). The fact that the next daughter was also christened Lydia does not suggest lack of grief on the part of the parents, but was usual practice in an age noted for its high infant mortality.

First World War-era cartoon by Dutch cartoonist Louis Raemaekers.

day-without-sun:

To Your Health, Civilization.

(via nocnitsa)

nevver:

J’accuse!

cavetocanvas:

Weegee, Human Head Cake Box Murder, c. 1940

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

It is hard to decide which of the several mysteries contained in this macabre photograph is the most bizarre: the murder to which the title alludes, the headless bodies standing flat-footedly around a bodyless head, the “scriptboy” who enters at upper left, how the police photographer can be both rooted to the spot and levitating above it, why he wears his hat as he works, or where Weegee is standing.

cavetocanvas:

Weegee, Their First Murder, October 9, 1941

From the Getty Museum:

“A woman relative cried…but neighborhood dead-end kids enjoyed the show when a small-time racketeer was shot and killed,” wrote Weegee in the caption accompanying this startling photograph in his 1945 publication Naked City. On the facing page Weegee showed the bloody body lying in the street. 

Alternately laughing, staring in disbelief, or looking into the camera to grasp their own momentary chance to be recorded, the children who had witnessed this grisly scene form an unsettling amalgam of human emotion and self-absorption. Two women are among the group: one, whom Weegee mentioned above, stands at the center, her face contorted with anguished tears, her personal loss turned into public spectacle. 

mediumaevum:

Funeral scene with mourners

from 

Brabantsche Yeesten

by
Jan Van Boendale (c.1280-1351)

This guy is all, “Let’s go SKULL SHOPPING!”

demonagerie:

Trogen, Kantonsbibliothek Appenzell Ausserrhoden, CM Ms. 13, f. 104r. Johann von Schwarzenberg: Memorial der Tugendt. c.1530/40. Death and the bone house.

(via centuriespast)

io9: The Awesomely Insane Heaven and Hell Nightclubs of 1890s Paris.

hellomeetdeath:

death loves balloons 

Roundel from England, ca. 1600. From the V&A Museum:

The 16th-century Reformation had dire consequences for stained-glass making in England. Throughout the period, Puritan hostility to ‘distractive’ imagery in stained glass meant that church windows suffered neglect and were often a target for vandalism. New stained glass was almost exclusively ordered for domestic interiors. Its subjects were restricted to non-biblical imagery such as heraldry and moral messages. True stained glass was increasingly replaced by enamel-painted white glass, the making of which fell to Dutch and German artists.

This roundel belongs to a group of panels painted with moralising images and accompanying Latin inscriptions. The inscriptions are taken from such literary sources as the Bible and the works of the Roman poet Horace (65-8 BC). Death and judgement were preoccupations of the Christian faith and were particularly popular subjects for glazing programmes from the 14th century onwards.

And of course:

The skull on this panel was a familiar reminder of death (memento mori). The hourglass represented the passage of time and the open Bible encouraged the viewer to lead a virtuous Christian life. The candle symbolised the fragility of life which could be snuffed out in an instant.