TOD! – GRAB! – VERWESUNG! VISUALISIERUNG VON TOD UND STERBEN IN DEN ESTNISCHEN FREMDSPRACHIGEN FUNERALDRUCKEN DES 17. UND 18. JAHRHUNDERTS

Abstract

The materials in the Retrospective National Bibliography of foreignlanguagepublications printed in Estonia before 1830 provide variousopportunities for analysing the production of local print shops.The article focuses on the illustrative elements in printed funeralsermons and works of poetry, which cast a light on the memorialand commemorative customs in the early modern period.Visual decorative elements like headpieces and vignettes had ageneral symbolic meaning and were used to illustrate funeral textsirrespective of the age, vocation or position of the deceased. Oneobjective was to remind the viewers of their own mortality. Skulls andcoffins were among the main vignette motifs used to depict Death,and less often, Death was depicted as a skeleton or the Grim Reaper.Inscriptions added to the vignettes emphasised relevant passagesfrom the Bible to strengthen one’s faith. The fact that the same orsimilar vignettes were simultaneously used in different countries isnoteworthy. The motifs for visualising Death and mourning used inthe foreign-language funeral publications in Estonia are very similarto those used in Sweden and Finland during the same period.