Ruaud. Jean-Baptiste. 35 ans, né à Limoges le 28/7/58. Cordonnier. Anarchiste. 4/2/94.
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
2005.100.375.372
Tags
Art Historical Context
This poignant photograph, titled *Ruaud. Jean-Baptiste.35 ans, né àoges le 28/7/58. Cordonnier. Anarchiste. 4/2/94*, captures the stern visage of Jean-Baptiste Ruaud a 35-year-oldemaker from Limoges labeled an "anarchiste" on February 4, 1894. Created by Alphonse Bertillon, pioneering French forensic photographer, it exemplifies his revolutionary Bertillon system of criminal identification. Developed in the 1880s, this method combined precise anthropometric measurements with standardized mugshots—full face and profile views—to catalog suspects amid rising social unrest in fin-de-siècle France....
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 ...