Frederick William I. Of Prussia 1688 -1740

Posted in * Death Masks, - Undying Faces Book - Ernst Benkard, 1700's, Frederick William I of Prussia

FREDERICK WILLIAM I. OF PRUSSIA. — Concerning the death of this second king of Prussia we have the record of his great son’s words of filial reverence: “II mourut avec la fermete d’un philosophe ct la resignation d’un chretien. II conserva une presence d’esprit admirable jusqu’au dernier moment de sa vie, ordonnant de ses affaires en politique, examinant les progres de sa maladic en physicien et triomphant de la mort en heros.”The death mask is in the Hohenzollcrn Museum in Berlin. It is made of wax and measures 23 centimetres in length. (Daniel Fassmann: Leben und Taten des Allerdurchlauchtigsten und Gross-machtigsten Konigs von Preussen Friederici Wilhelmi, Franckfurth and Hamburg, 1741, vol. ii. p. 834.) Photograph by Gust. Schwartz, Berlin.

Black & White Photos and quotations from: Benkard, Ernst, & Green, Margaret (1927). Undying Faces, A Collection of Death Masks. New York, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.