Memento Mori Card
1850-1900 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Memento mori card of portrait proportions, printed in black on white, within a rustic branch border. The card is headed with a sepia carte-de-visite photgraph of an (apparently) dead small child dressed in a shroud, and laid out with a cross placed between its hands. Beneath is printed a poem:
"Art thou sleeping ? Art thou waking ?
Tell us, darling child.
Through thy slumbers are there breaking
Voices soft and mild, -
Angel voices calling to thee,
None but thou can hear,
Angel whispers come to woo thee
To a brighter sphere ?"
"On my couch my eyes are closing
To this world of pain;
Wakes my soul to this reposing,
Ne'er to sleep again.
I am sleeping; I am waking;
Sleeping to this earth,
But from tears and sorrow breaking
To a heavenly birth."
"Art thou sleeping ? Art thou waking ?
Tell us, darling child.
Through thy slumbers are there breaking
Voices soft and mild, -
Angel voices calling to thee,
None but thou can hear,
Angel whispers come to woo thee
To a brighter sphere ?"
"On my couch my eyes are closing
To this world of pain;
Wakes my soul to this reposing,
Ne'er to sleep again.
I am sleeping; I am waking;
Sleeping to this earth,
But from tears and sorrow breaking
To a heavenly birth."
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Photographic paper and card |
| Brief description | Memento mori card; published by John Hodges in the UK, 1850-1900 |
| Physical description | Memento mori card of portrait proportions, printed in black on white, within a rustic branch border. The card is headed with a sepia carte-de-visite photgraph of an (apparently) dead small child dressed in a shroud, and laid out with a cross placed between its hands. Beneath is printed a poem: "Art thou sleeping ? Art thou waking ? Tell us, darling child. Through thy slumbers are there breaking Voices soft and mild, - Angel voices calling to thee, None but thou can hear, Angel whispers come to woo thee To a brighter sphere ?" "On my couch my eyes are closing To this world of pain; Wakes my soul to this reposing, Ne'er to sleep again. I am sleeping; I am waking; Sleeping to this earth, But from tears and sorrow breaking To a heavenly birth." |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | FROME SELWOOD:/ PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY JOHN HODGES. (John Hodges had two premises: one in Covent Garden, London; the other in Frome Selwood, Somerset) |
| Object history | Originally loosely inserted into B.82-1995, and bought with it at auction. It is possible that the card was originally marketed without the photograph, so that the purchaser could customise it with the image of their choice, probably that of the child they were mourning. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | B.85-1995 |
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| Record created | April 19, 2000 |
| Record URL |
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