Reytinat. Jacques, François. 48 ans, né à Mouy (Oise). Colporteur. Anarchiste. 9/3/94.
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
2005.100.375.357
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the shadowy world of 19th-century forensic photography with Alphonse Bertillon'sReytinat. Jacques, François. 48 ans, né à Mouy (Oise). Colporteur.archiste. 9/3/94.* (1894). This intimate albumen silver print from a glass negative captures Jacques Françoistinat, a 48-year-old peddler Oise labeled an "anarchiste." Measuring just 10.5 x 7 cm, it's a mugshot from Bertillon's pioneering Identification Anthropométrique service at Paris's Prefecture of Police. Bertillon, the father of modern criminal photography, revolutionized law enforcement with his "bertillonage" system—standardized fr...
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 ...