Belloti. Louis. 28 ans, né à Turin. Camelot. Anarchiste. 18/3/94.

Art Historical Context

This striking 1894 photograph, titled *Belloti. Louis. 28 ans, né à Turin. Camelot. Anarchiste. 18/3/94*, captures Louis Belloti, a 28-year-old street hawker (camelot) from Turin identified as an anarchist. Created by Alphonse Bertillon, the pioneering French forensic photographer and inventor of the Bertillonage system—the first scientific method for criminal identification—this image is a meticulous mugshot from Paris's Prefecture of Police. Bertillon's standardized portraits, taken against a measured scale, combined frontal and profile views to document physical traits alongside personal details like age, birthplace, and occupation. Produced as an albumen silver print from a glass negative, the 10.5 x 7 cm image exemplifies 19th-century photography's sharp detail and tonal richness, revolutionizing both law enforcement and portraiture. Part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gilman Collection, this work offers a window into the era's social tensions, including fears of anarchism amid bombings and unrest. Beyond forensics, Bertillon's techniques influenced modern photography, blending art, science, and surveillance in hauntingly precise portraits of society's margins.

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 ...