''The Kiss of Death'' (

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

: ''Il Bacio della Morte'') is a black and white

photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...

by an unknown author, taken on 12 May 1957. It depicts the moment in which

Linda Christian Linda Christian (born Blanca Rosa Henrietta Stella Welter Vorhauer; November 13, 1923 – July 22, 2011) was a Mexican film actress, who appeared in Mexican and Hollywood films. Her career reached its peak in the 1940s and 1950s. She played Mara ...

kisses

Alfonso de Portago Alfonso Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, 11th Marquess of Portago, GE (11 October 1928 – 12 May 1957), best known as Alfonso de Portago, was a Spanish aristocrat, racing and bobsleigh driver, jockey and pilot. Born in London to a prominent famil ...

at a brief stop during the

1957 Mille Miglia The 24. edizione Mille Miglia was an auto race held on a course totalling , made up entirely of public roads around Italy, mostly on the outer parts of the country on 11–12 May 1957. The route was based on a round trip between Brescia and Rome, ...

race in northern Italy. Portago was killed moments later when a tire burst at 150m/h in

Guidizzolo Guidizzolo ( Upper Mantovano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Mantua in the Italian region Lombardy, located about east of Milan and about northwest of Mantua. The bordering municipalities of Guidizzolo are Cavriana, Ceresara ...

, Cavriana. Over the years, it has become one of the most renowned photographs of kisses and a symbol of young audacity and passion. The photograph depicts actress Linda Christian (wearing a dotted dress and

headscarf A headscarf is a scarf covering most or all of the top of a person's, usually women's, hair and head, leaving the face uncovered. A headscarf is formed of a triangular cloth or a square cloth folded into a triangle, with which the head is cov ...

), leaning in for a short kiss with

Formula 1 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

driver Alfonso de Portago who wears the typical 1950's racing gear; a white helmet, goggles and a

leather jacket A leather jacket is a jacket-length coat that is usually worn on top of other apparel or item of clothing, and made from the tanned hide of various animals. The leather material is typically dyed black, or various shades of brown, but a wide ra ...

. A crowd of onlookers joyfully stares, while journalists immortalise the scene with their cameras. The photograph became famous in Italy and was popularly named "Il Bacio della Morte" (The Kiss of Death) in reference to Portago's death shortly after the image was taken. The magazine ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'' gave fame to the photograph after it published it in its May 1957 issue, under the title "Death finally takes a man who courted it"."Death finally takes a man who courted it" in ''Life'', Vol. 42, No. 21 (May 1957), pp. 121–124
/ref> On later interviews, Linda Christian remembered the moment almost like a premonition: The image is part of the

Bettmann Archive The Bettmann Archive is a collection of over 11 million photographs and images, some going back to the United States Civil War and including some of the best known U.S. historic images. The Archive also includes many images from Europe and elsewh ...

, stored in the Iron Mountain National Underground Storage Facility, a former

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

quarry located 220 feet (67 m) below ground in western

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiss of Death, The 1957 works 1957 in art Black-and-white photographs Photography in Italy 1950s photographs

See also

References