Examine closely the image above.

Note the neat attire, the carefully brushed and arranged hair. See how the younger woman leans languidly against her father; and the uncertainty of her mother.

None of them quite know where to look. Photography was such a new concept then and people had to sit very still for a long time. To blink was to risk ruining the shot.

(In 1839, it could take up to half an hour to capture a daguerrerotype image. By 1842, this had been refined down to a minute. Photographer's studios included hidden head-rests and body clamps to help the subjects remain in position.)

They pose, they wait. Grim-faced, as all subjects in early Victorian photographs were wont to be, whatever their natural instinct. It hurt their faces too much to smile for so long.

But this family may be forgiven their sullen, slightly shell-shocked expressions. Despite their rosy cheeks - added in later by the photographer's tinting brush - they would have been quite pale in actuality.

The woman in the center is dead. Her parents propped up her corpse, doing their best to make her appear quite alive. Thus they created their memento mori; a keepsake of their dearly beloved.