Joseph Smith Death Mask
Posted Jul 21, 2022, 10:13 PM UTC
1614
It doesn’t really matter. How old was JS when the picture was taken? Also once someone dies the body is no longer the same so it would not surprise me that his face is a little different. Remember he took a header out of a 2nd story window. I bet his brain bucket was a little swollen due to trauma.
6
Plus it's not uncommon for death masks, like any other process involving casting, to exaggerate the features a little. I've helped with a (living) face casting before, we had to be very careful with how we made the mold and such to make sure that the casting was accurate enough to be useful. I'm sure it's easier to get that accuracy on a deceased subject but it's still an inherent part of the process.
5
To me it looks like there is a bit of artistic design going on with these death masks which were made back in the day. Does anyone know the exact process which was used?
3
Wait, why do we trust death masks anyway? No one would ever sculpt one, but still….
2
Traditionally, death masks are made by oiling the head and pouring plaster over it to make a mold. They are not sculpted in the sense of an artist sculpting away clay using their skill or artistic interpretation.
5
I know what a death mask is supposed to be. This is a death mask brought to you by the same people as the book of abraham and the golden plates and the seer stones.
3
Death masks, so damn creepy!
2
Coming here to say this. What the hell? Really creepy. Fine for Tutankhamen but not Joe Smuts.
3
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1
Sorry to be skeptical, but I just don’t think that that photograph looks like this guy.
Being skeptical is what freed us from a false religion. We should never apologize for asking questions!
Never apologize for being skeptical, it's a duty we all owe each other. I don't think it looks like the photo either.
The one article said 18/20 features were a match.
That’s what I was thinking too. I’m gonna need some - gasp! - more corroborating evidence.
I thought that at first too.
You should overlay the death mask with the photo in some image-editing software, say photoshop.
The agreement of the alignment/proportion of the facial features is...admittedly striking despite my initial reaction.
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