Memento mori symbols were popular in the Middle Ages in art and funeral monuments, but fell out of style in the late eighteenth century. Several memento mori symbols appear on this tombstone marking the grave of a Boston woman that died in 1745. The skeleton is snuffing out a candle, symbolizing the end of life. An angel holds an hourglass, a symbol of life passing quickly. Death’s heads, skulls with bones or wings were also featured on early colonial tombstones.
Tombstone of Rebecca Sanders, died 1745, King’s Chapel Burying Ground, Boston, Massachusetts.
Image featured in Discovering Quacks, Utopias, and Cemeteries: Modern Lessons from Historical Themes by Cynthia Resor