This life-mask was made by Benjamin Robert Haydon in 1816. Having one’s face cast was a slow and laborious process and required patience and stamina from the sitter. Haydon once described the preparations as ‘being something like those for cutting off a man’s head’. Life-masks are liable to distortion over the years, but Fanny Keats said this mask was ‘a perfect copy of the features of my dear brother. The expression of course is wanting as the eyes are closed, and perhaps the mouth is a little compressed which is but natural, as the mask could not have been taken with the lips unclosed. It is perfect, except for the mouth, the lips being rather thicker and somewhat compressed which renders the expression more severe than the sweet and mild original.’ This life-mask was made by Benjamin Robert Haydon in 1816. Having one’s face cast was a slow and laborious process and required patience and stamina from the sitter. Haydon once described the preparations as ‘being something like those for cutting off a man’s head’. Life-masks are liable to distortion over the years, but Fanny Keats said this mask was ‘a perfect copy of the features of my dear brother. The expression of course is wanting as the eyes are closed, and perhaps the mouth is a little compressed which is but natural, as the mask could not have been taken with the lips unclosed. It is perfect, except for the mouth, the lips being rather thicker and somewhat compressed which renders the expression more severe than the sweet and mild original.’
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM
TWITTER
YOUTUBE
