Annie, Annie! Are you Okay?: Death Masks, War and Simulation

In the late 19th century, a beautiful woman was said to have drowned in the River Seine and had a plaster death mask created to capture her beauty. Called L ’Inconnue de la Seine (The Unknown Woman of the Seine) and “La Joconde du suicide” (The Mona Lisa of Suicide), the image went on to inspire art, literature, and popular culture. Our current understanding of forensic pathology makes it highly unlikely that the cast of the Inconnue was actually taken from a deceased person. The death mask of the Inconnue lives on in modern medicine in the face of the Resusci Anne mannequin, which is used for Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training.
Source: Journal of Pediatric Urology - Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Source Type: research