Crespin. Joseph. 40 ans, né à Roquesteron (Alpes-Maritimes). Employé de banque. 25/3/93.

Art Historical Context

In 1893, French criminologist and photographer Alphonse Bertillon this precise portrait of Joseph Crespin a 40-year-old employee from Roquester in the Alpes-Maritimes region of France. Titled with meticulous detail—"Crespin. Joseph. 40 ans, né à Roquesteron (Alpes-Maritimes). Employ de banque. 25/3/93."—the image is a hallmark of Bertillon's revolutionary anthropometric system, known as *bertillonage*. Developed in the 1880s while working for the Paris Prefecture of Police, this method combined physical measurements, standardized photographs (front and profile views), and descriptive notes to identify criminals, predating fingerprints as a forensic tool. Printed as an albumen silver print from a glass negative, the small 10.5 x 7 cm image exemplifies 19th-century photographic precision. Albumen, made from egg whites, yielded rich tonal depth and fine detail on paper, ideal for archiving in Bertillon's identification files. Though diminutive, its clinical gaze and rigid pose marked a shift from romantic portraiture to scientific documentation, influencing global policing and the modern mugshot. Today, housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gilman Collection, this work bridges art and science, offering a poignant glimpse into an era when photography became a weapon against crime—and a mirror to society's quest for order.

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 ...