Curator's Corner: The Death Mask

February 2025 Edition

For this month’s Curator’s Corner, we are exploring an object that will be featured in our new Hangman Exhibition, set to debut in time for the reopening of the museum and galleries on the 7th of March! This month, we delve into the history and significance of Albert Pierrepoint’s death mask.

A death mask is a likeness of a person’s face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from their corpse.^[1]This tradition of death masks dates back to antiquity, though early examples were often artistic renderings rather than exact moulds. These masks were typically reserved for the elite, serving both as a means to commemorate the dead and as a protective ward in the afterlife.^[2]

By the late Middle Ages, following the devastation of the plague, European cultures became increasingly fixated on death. It was during this period that the more realistic death mask tradition began, these masks were created by moulding wax or plaster over the deceased’s face and they were used to help sculptors create accurate funerary portraits.^[3] By the 18th century, however, death masks began to be valued in their own right. Scientists used them to study variations in human physiognomy, and the pseudoscience of phrenology attempted to link skull features to personality traits.^[4]

With shifting attitudes towards death and the development and increased availability of photography in the 19th and early 20th centuries, death masks gradually fell out of fashion. People no longer needed to remember their loved ones with plaster casts when they could take photographs. Today, the practice has largely disappeared.^[5]

One example of a death mask is that of Albert Pierrepoint, one of Britain’s most prolific executioners. Serving as an executioner from the 1930s to the 1950s, Pierrepoint carried out hundreds of executions, including those of notorious war criminals from World War II. Unlike many who held the position before him, Pierrepoint became a public figure, even writing an autobiography that expressed his belief that capital punishment was not an effective deterrent to crime.^[6] His death mask, cast at the time of his death in 1992, like other historical figures serves as both a physical reminder of his existence and a reflection of society’s complex relationship with justice and morality.

Stop by the museum for our reopening on the 7th of March and explore our new exhibition, where you can see Albert Pierrepoint’s death mask and other fascinating artifacts!

^[1] “Death Mask.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Oct. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_mask.

^[2] Gorvett, Zaria. “The Lost Art of the Death Mask.” BBC Future, BBC, 14 Feb. 2024, www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20240209-the-lost-art-of-the-death-mask.

^[3] Ibid.

^[4] “Death Mask.” Wikipedia.

^[5] Gorvett. “The Lost Art of the Death Mask.”

^[6] “Albert Pierrepoint.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Feb. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Pierrepoint.