Bossard. Célestin. 33 ans, né le 5/3/61 à Gonbretière (Vendée). Cordonnier. Anarchiste. 2/7/94
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
10.5 x 7 x 0.5 cm (4 1/8 x 2 3/4 x 3/16 in.) each
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Museum Purchase, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.375.64
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1894, pioneering French forensic photographer Alphonse Bert captured this stark portrait of Célestinard, a 33-year-old shoemaker from Gontière in the Vendée region. The meticulous title—listing Bossard's age, birthdate, profession, and anarchist affiliation—reflects Bertillon's revolutionary anthropometric system, used by the Paris Prefecture of Police to identify criminals through standardized measurements and photographs. This small albumen silver print from a negative, measuring just 10.5 x 7 cm, exemplifies the clinical precision of Bertillon's "judicial photography," blending science a...
About the Artist
Alphonse Bertillon · 1853–1914
Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914) was a pioneering French photographer whose work revolutionized forensic documentation, transforming police identification into a precise visual science. Born in Paris on April 22, 1853, he was the son of medical professor and statistician Louis-Adolphe Bertillon and the younger brother of demographer Jacques Bertillon. Lacking formal higher education after expulsion ...