The spectacles of mourning: processes of continuity and change in Portugal from the 14th to the 20th century

Abstract

The dissertation “The Spectacles of Mourning: Processes of Continuity and Change in Portugal from the 14th to the 20th Century” analyses the transformation of mourning visual culture and social bodies in Portugal, comparing effigies from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with post-mortem photographs from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries. The study seeks to understand how the visual culture of mourning stages, theatricalises, and objectifies grief within Portuguese society, both materially and socially, while exploring secondary issues such as the concept of dignity and the staging of mourning, reflections on values and social norms, the role of emotions, and the relationship between photography and sculpture in the funerary context.