Dutheil. Louis. 29 ans, né le 28/7/64 à Maisonnais (Ht Vienne). Tailleur d'habits. Anarchiste. 3/7/94.
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
2005.100.375.159
Tags
Art Historical Context
This poignant portrait, titled *Dutheil. Louis. 29 ans, né le 28/7/64 à Maisonnais ( Vienne). Tailleur d'habits. Anarchiste. 3/7/94*, captures Louis Dutheil, a 29-year-old tailor from Haute-Vienne, France, labeled as an anarchist. Created by Alphonse Bertillon in 1894, it exemplifies the pioneering work of the French forensic photographer who revolutionized criminal identification. Bertillon's "anthropometric system" combined precise full-face and profile mugshots with body measurements, predating fingerprints as a tool for police archives. Amid France's turbulent 1890s—"the age of anarchist ...
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 ...