Funerary art in Puritan New England

rdf:langString Funerary art in Puritan New England

rdf:langString Funerary art in Puritan New England encompasses graveyard headstones carved between c. 1640 and the late 18th century by the Puritans, founders of the first American colonies, and their descendants. Early New England puritan funerary art conveys a practical attitude towards 17th-century mortality; death was an ever-present reality of life, and their funerary traditions and grave art provide a unique insight into their views on death. The minimalist artistry of the early headstone designs reflect a religious doctrine, which largely avoided unnecessary decoration or embellishment. The earliest Puritan graves in the New England states of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, were usually dug without planning in designated local burial grounds, and sometimes marked with upright slate, sandstone or granite stones containing factual but inelegant inscriptions. Subsequent generations decorated their stone headstones with carvings; most dramatically with depictions of death's head, a stylized skull sometimes with wings or crossed bones. Later examples show the deceased carried by the wings, supposedly taking their soul to heaven. From the 1690s the imagery becomes less severe, and began to include winged cherubs (known as "soul effigies") who had fuller faces and rounder and more life-sized eyes and mouths. In headstones dating from the Federalist Era, the rise of secularism saw the prominence of urn and willow imagery.