Mounted black and white photograph of floral tributes displayed in a church. The photograph was taken from the center aisle with rows of pews in foreground. The majority of the flower arrangements are grouped in the center of the altar, with additional displays on either side. At the left of the altar is a large framed document on an easel that is draped with flowers and foliage.
Label Text:
Flower arrangements are some of the most common subject matters for memorial photographs made in the nineteenth century. Cabinet cards, stereo cards, and other photographic formats are seen depicting memorial flowers, sometimes combined with other mourning imagery, phrases, or a photograph of the deceased when alive. Simple wording such as, “our baby,” “our darling,” “brother,” “sister,” “son,” “daughter,” etc. were commonly seen surrounded by a creative still life composition made from the sympathy tributes. Having these photographs taken was affordable, and in the case of notable figures, the pictures were mass-produced for sale to the public. This type of memorial photograph was most popular between 1895 and 1910. The images were often kept by the family as remembrance of the deceased individual and the outpouring of love and sympathy received in their time of greatest loss; often made into parlor cards, openly displayed in the home, or kept in a photographic album.
