Also, ‘death portraits’ were a thing back in the day, talk about lifeless eyes.
True, and some of these “works of art” reminded me of that.
There was a legitimate reason for the death pictures of old; pictures were not affordable to many people years ago so few pictures were taken. If a child or other loved one passed away many felt the loss would be even greater without any photographs of that person or a family picture including that person. Seems odd to us but it was practical at the time.
I can think of no reason for pictures of this sort now.