L’Enfants Bizarre

Three preserved human fetuses, presented in an antique display cabinet. The first is an altogether healthy fetus, the second suffers Polymelia, six arms, and the final, suffers a rare infection of the Shope papilloma virus, which causes a series of horn like growths in the forehead. These three are part of a large collection of human specimens, afflicted with various genetic diseases.

Traditional Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Art

 Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852 - 1913) was Mexico’s most famous graphic artist. He illustrated books, novels, and the famous broadsides (news sheets) that were distributed throughout the country. Many of his drawings could be considered to be political cartoons. Known especially for his engravings of the “calaveras” or skeletons that cavort, eat and drink, ride bicycles and horses, are revolutionaries, street vendors, and everyday people.

His art is traditional for All Souls’ Day, the Day of the Dead or “Dia de los Muertos”.  The Day of the Dead actually consists of two days: November 1st for the remembrance of deceased infants and children and November 2nd for deceased adults.

Curious History: Model of Decomposing Corpse in Coffin, 1900

Crawling with maggots, this unusual wooden model shows a decomposing corpse exposed by an open coffin. Little is known about the model. It is thought to be a memento mori. These objects are reminders of death and the shortness of life. Memento mori come in different shapes and sizes. Up until the 1500s, death was often represented by a skeleton leading a living victim to their fate. A skull became a more common representation of death after this date. What makes this piece even more creepy is that its origin is unknown.  

Curious History: Momento Mori - A Reminder of Death, 1500s

      One side of this carved ivory head shows a human face crawling with worms; the other side shows a skull crawling with toads after the worms have eaten away at the flesh. Not much is known about this model, but it is thought that it is a memento mori – literally a reminder of death and the shortness of life. The skull was the symbol of death from the 1500s onwards. Previously death was represented as a skeleton accompanied by a living victim.

Curious History: Hallstatt Charnel House or House of Painted Skulls

Behind the Hallstatt Catholic Church in Austria, near the 12th-century St. Micheal’s Chapel, in a small and lovingly cared for cemetery is the Hallstatt Beinhaus (bone house), also known as the Charnel House. A small building, it is tightly stacked with over 1200 skulls. Because Hallstatt finds itself in such a lovely location, it also finds itself in very short supply of burial grounds. In the 1700s, the Church began digging up corpses to make way for the newly dead. The bodies which had been buried for only 10 to 15 years were then stacked inside the charnel house. Once the skeletons were exhumed and properly bleached in the sun, the family members would stack the bones next to their nearest kin. 

In 1720, a tradition began of painting the skulls with symbolic decorations as well as dates of birth and death so that the dead would be remembered, even if they no longer had a grave. Of the 1,200 skulls, some 610 of them were lovingly painted, with an assortment of symbols, laurels for valor, roses for love, and so on. The ones from the 1700s are painted with thick dark garlands, while the newer ones from the 1800s on, bear brighter floral styles.