The curtains are drawn. The clocks are stopped at the time of death. Mirrors are draped in black to prevent the soul from being trapped inside. Black and blue draping hangs from the exterior eves. Simon E. Thornton has passed away, and Hearthside, his home in Lincoln, Rhode Island, is hosting his funeral. The date, however, is May 2, 1873. For the remaining weekends in October, the Hearthside will be offering tours of the mansion for an exhibition on Victorian era mourning practices. The Bellows-Falso Funeral Home - oldest operating funeral home in New England - has also provided a number of authentic period pieces for the exhibit. It's certainly appropriate since records show they were the funeral home that handled Mr. Thornton's interment 139 years ago. The reenactment of the funeral is on the 29th - complete with horse-drawn hears - and a seance (also authentic to the period) is scheduled for October 30th.
I seriously considered a b&w presentation for this photo, but finally decided it was more important to show the authenticity of the colors in the mourning drapery. The contrast of the brilliant fall colors, the cheerfully warm day, and the somberness of the mourning drapes appealed to me as well. I opted, as result, to leave this one in living color, with all due respects to the previously departed.
Post processing was in Topaz Adjust. I started with a detail light filter and then adjusted the adaptive exposure, contrast, protect shadows, and adaptive exposure sliders. A levels adjustment was added in PSE.
Beautifully processed and presented, Ron - and an excellent commentary. They really celebrated death in those days, didn't they? . . . If they had the worldly wealth to advertise their family misfortune in such an ostentatious way, that is.
The Victorians knew how to mourn properly.
I (and a lot of my fellow widow-friends) often think it would be really rather handy to be able to wear or show some sort of sign that we are really not OK and are still in mourning ... much like Queen Victoria did after she lost her beloved Albert.
I often feel the pressure to "just be OK again" when I am so far from OK sometimes, I can't even see it from here. .... even though I look OK on the outside.
October 17th, 2012
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I (and a lot of my fellow widow-friends) often think it would be really rather handy to be able to wear or show some sort of sign that we are really not OK and are still in mourning ... much like Queen Victoria did after she lost her beloved Albert.
I often feel the pressure to "just be OK again" when I am so far from OK sometimes, I can't even see it from here. .... even though I look OK on the outside.