Guillemard. Isidore, François. 46 ans, né à St-Michel des Andaines (Orne). Menuisier. Anarchiste 28/2/94.
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
2005.100.375.196
Tags
Art Historical Context
This poignant albumen silver print from a glass negative, created by pioneering forensic photographer Alphonseillon in 1894, captures Isidore François Guilleard, a 46-year-old carpenter from St-Michel-des-Andaines in Normandy's Orne region. Labeled simply as an "Anarchiste" with his arrest date of February 28, the small 10.5 x 7 cm portrait exemplifies Bertillon's revolutionary mugshot system, which combined frontal and profile views with meticulous measurements to identify criminals before fingerprints became standard. Bertillon, chief of the Paris Prefecture's Identification Service, develo...
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 ...