Nic. Celestin. 20 ans, né à Conflans-St-Honorine (Seine & Oise). Emballeur. 26/2/94.
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
2005.100.375.306
Tags
Art Historical Context
This poignant portrait, titled *Nic. Celestin. 20, né à Conflans-St-Honorine ( & Oise). Embur. 26/2/94*, captures a 20-year-old packer from a small French town, meticulously documented by Alphonse Bertillon in1894. Bertillon, a pioneering French criminologist and photographer, created this albumen silver print from a negative as part of his revolutionary anthropometric system, known as Bertillonage. Used by the Paris Prefecture of Police, it standardized criminal identification through precise measurements, full-face and profile photographs, and personal details like age, birthplace, and occup...
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 ...