Ravinet. Gaston. 34 ans, né à Paris XIXe. Couvreur. Anarchiste. 1/3/94.
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
2005.100.375.349
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, forensic pioneer Alphonse Bertillon criminal identification with his "anthropometric system," known as bertillonnage. This 1894 albumen silver from a glass negative captures Gaston Ravinet a 34-year-oldofer from Paris's 19th arrondissement labeled simply as an "anarchiste." Measuring just 10.5 x 7 cm, the small portrait exemplifies Bertillon's standardized mugshot format—precise, clinical, and dual-view (though this appears as a single panel)—designed for measurement and archival precision amid France's era of anarchist unrest and bombings. Bertillon's technique tran...
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 ...