Making a Roman Death Mask
My Imago Maiorum
It’s early morning in ancient Rome. An accomplished man from a noble line has recently died. His friends and family gather in the twilight outside his home and prepare to carry his body through the streets to an ancestral tomb or burial ground beyond the sacred boundary of the eternal city. Then, several men emerge from the atrium of the home wearing wax masks known as imagines maiorum. The molds for the masks were cast from the faces of the dead man’s male ancestors while they were alive and in their prime. The long, solemn procession — the pompa funebris — begins, and the deceased is accompanied into the afterlife by the faces of his respected forefathers.
Records suggest that the entourage moved through the Forum to the Rostra, where the eulogy, or laudatio funebris, was given, as the seated, masked figures looked on. This was a display of family continuity and prestige.
When I was researching the concept of animus for a recent video, this image really captured my imagination. It’s so haunting and cinematic — this parade of the preserved faces of the dead.
So, I decided to try to create my own imago maiorum and document the process. You can watch it in my latest video, here:
Here are the materials I used to make this Roman Death Mask:
Rolls of Plaster Gauze
https://amzn.to/4ojyEog
Yellow Beeswax
https://amzn.to/4vcEZVq
100% Pure Fully Rendered Grass Fed Grass Finished Beef Tallow- (4 lbs)
https://amzn.to/4e24VwK
Zinsser 408 Bulls Eye Shellac Traditional Finish & Sealer Spray, 12 oz, Clear
https://amzn.to/4uv7e0e
I may actually make a second attempt, using a more modern process to achieve a more detailed result. Beeswax is good, but fragile. A translucent amber resin mask would be a striking and more permanent variation on the same theme.
Body Double Silk Lifecasting Silicone - Pint Unit
https://amzn.to/4vAclNq
Since I was a young man fresh out of art school, captivated by the work of Matthew Barney, I’ve always been interested in the intersection between art, meaning, physical action, and the body. It’s really exciting for me to be doing things in this area and making little films about it, 30 years later.
I hope you enjoy this project.
Stay Solar.
This was fantastic. I’ve always been intrigued by death masks. In your research on them, did you ever come across why they faded from Western culture? Americans were still doing them in the 19th century. Lincoln’s death mask is famous. As a Mormon, I’ve seen Joseph Smith’s death mask shown in photos.
I’m guessing it was the advent of photography, but Americans were still making death masks when photography was around. I’m sure there’s some cultural changing relationship to death that’s gone on as well.
Given your interest in death masks you might enjoy a novel suggested by my wife which I recently finished. It is called "The Mask of Atreus" by A.J. Hartley, and concerns a female small museum curator's attempt to solve the mysterious murder of the wealthy owner of the museum, who allegedly recovered the death mask of Agamemnon, upon which he was murdered and the mask stolen.