Published via Ecency

The International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago has a death mask of Napoleon Bonaparte on display.

A death mask is a wax or plaster cast made directly from the face of a recently deceased person. Before photography became widespread, these masks provided an exact physical record of a person's facial features.

These are a few of the uses for death masks-

Artistic Reference: Sculptors and painters used death masks as accurate models to create posthumous busts, statues, and formal memorial portraits.
State Funerals & Mementos: In medieval and early modern Europe, masks were used to construct realistic effigies of monarchs or prominent figures displayed during state funeral processions.
Forensic Identification: Police and morgues created masks of unidentified bodies so families searching for missing relatives could identify them.
Phrenology & Research: In the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists used casts to study facial topography, skull shape, and human physiognomy.

DEATH MASK OF NAPOLEON
PLASTER (MOLDED FROM ORIGINAL)
1850 – 1910 (ORIGINAL 1821)
Made in 1821, this death mask of Napoleon Bonaparte is one of several cast after the French leader's death. Funerary masks were frequent during Bonaparte's time to preserve the likeness of a person in power after their passing. Plaster or wax was laid onto the deceased's face to make a funerary mask, and oil and threads applied to the skin further aided the removal of the material. Once the material hardened, the threads were pulled away from the head, dividing the mold for easy removal. Finally, the sections were joined together and filled with metal or plaster to create the death mask, possibly resulting in the sharp horizontal and vertical lines on the face.
Compared to the portrait of Bonaparte displayed next to the mask, which shows a highly idealized version of the ruler, the mask is perhaps as close to the physical looks of the ruler as we may get. Yet visible are also signs of death, such as sunken eyes and hollow cheeks, which reminds us of the current state of Napoleon's body when the mask was made. The placement of this object in the Spanish mural gallery connects Bonaparte's presence within Spanish history, specifically his 1807 invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, which put Spain under French occupation. The mask also relates to the subjects on the murals, depicting the various forms of medical procedures for protecting and sustaining life in cases of illness and harm. Similarly, the death mask represents a form of preservation of life, even in death, to memorialize a person's likeness after passing before their body decays.

This is the mural referred to in the plaque above which depicts scenes from Spanish medical history showing the
evolution of medical care

Death masks were often made of famous people but in the late 1800's a mask was created of an unidentified young woman pulled from the Seine River. The serene facial expression of L'Inconnue de la Seine: was cast and became a famous artistic icon, and her likeness was later used to model the face of CPR training mannequins ("Resusci Anne").

I am glad we have cameras today and these masks are no longer necessary!