This old studio portrait is frequently interpreted as post-mortem photography, a genuine 19th-century practice in which families sometimes photographed deceased relatives—particularly children—as memorial keepsakes. During the 19th century, high childhood mortality and the expense of photography meant a post-mortem portrait could sometimes be a family's only photograph of a child. Deceased relatives were photographed alone or alongside living family members, sometimes posed as though peacefully sleeping. Have you ever heard of this macabre, creepy custom two centuries ago?