death mask, a wax or plaster cast of a mold taken from the face of a dead individual. Death masks are true portraits, although changes are occasionally made in the eyes of the mask to make it appear as though the subject were alive. From the time of ancient Egypt they have served as aids to portrait sculptors, and for the last few centuries they have been kept as mementos of the dead.
Since the 13th century, death masks have aided the sculptors of tomb effigies, but in medieval France and England actual death masks were used for the royal funeral effigies that lay in state. Only English examples exist, however; those in France were destroyed during the French Revolution. The mask of Henry VII is probably the finest in existence, and that of Edward III is the earliest European example; the latter records the facial distortion due to his fatal stroke. Other well-known masks are those of Isaac Newton, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Napoleon Bonaparte.
In contrast to death masks, life masks are made from molds taken from living faces. The features of such persons as Henry Clay and James Madison have been preserved in life masks.