- Photo:
How Prominent Historical Figures Looked On Their Deathbeds
There's something morbidly fascinating about deathbed and postmortem photographs. They capture the moment of transition, when a person goes from being a living, conscious being to a collection of inert flesh.Â
While bodies are often posed to appear merely to be resting peacefully, sometimes the illusion is impossible to maintain. Here are some of history's most prominent characters as they appeared in the moments shortly before, or shortly after, they left this world.
- Photo:
- Unknown (possibly Hubert von Herkomer)
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public domain
Victoria reigned as queen of the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901. She presided over a period of expansion of the British Empire, as well as the UK's development into an economic and industrial powerhouse. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage after weeks of declining health.
- Age: Dec. at 81 (1819-1901)
- Birthplace: Kensington Palace, London, England
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Maurice Gilbert
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public domain
The Irish poet, novelist, and playwright Oscar Wilde was a famous wit and man-about-town in the late Victorian period. Before his downfall and imprisonment on charges of homosexual behavior, Wilde's plays, including An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, were wildly popular in London.
Wilde's constitution suffered after his stint in prison, and he succumbed to meningitis after an ear infection.
- Age: Dec. at 46 (1854-1900)
- Birthplace: Dublin, Republic of Ireland
1The liar at any rate recognizes that recreation, not instruction, is the aim of conversation, and is a far more civilized being than the blockhead who loudly expresses his disbelief in a story which is told simply for the amusement of the company.13 Votes- 2Experience is the name we give to our mistakes.85 Votes
- 3Be yourself; everyone else is already taken125 Votes
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Anonymous photographer from Russian Empire
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public domain
Anton Chekhov was an acclaimed Russian playwright and short-story author. Among his plays are Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard. He had been plagued by tuberculosis for much of his life, and passed from the disease at only age 44.
- Age: Dec. at 44 (1860-1904)
- Birthplace: Taganrog, Russia
- Photo:
- Photo:
Victor Hugo was one of the most acclaimed authors in French literature. Among his most famous novels are Notre Dame de Paris and Les Misérables. He passed in 1885 from pneumonia.
- Age: Dec. at 83 (1802-1885)
- Birthplace: Besançon, Doubs, France
- Photo:
- Nikolay Gundvizer
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public domain
One of the most beloved of Romantic composers, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is remembered for works such as the Nutcracker Suite, the First Piano Concerto, and Swan Lake. In October 1893 he was exposed to cholera in the midst of an epidemic that was sweeping St. Petersburg, and succumbed only four days later. (The cause of his death remains somewhat controversial, however, with some suspecting suicide.)
- Age: Dec. at 53 (1840-1893)
- Birthplace: Votkinsk, Russia
- Photo:
- Photo:
- Sydney B. Swift
- Wikimedia Commons
- Public domain
The Belgian priest Father Damien spent much of his life on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, tending to the inhabitants of a leper colony there. He eventually contracted the disease himself and passed away from it. Later, he was made a saint by the Catholic Church.
- Age: Dec. at 49 (1840-1889)
- Birthplace: Tremelo, Belgium
- Photo:
