Dutheil. Louis. 29 ans, né le 28/7/64 à Maisonnais (Ht Vienne). Tailleur d'habits. Anarchiste. 3/7/94.

Art Historical Context

This poignant portrait, titled *Dutheil. Louis. 29 ans, né le 28/7/64 à Maisonnais ( Vienne). Tailleur d'habits. Anarchiste. 3/7/94*, captures Louis Dutheil, a 29-year-old tailor from Haute-Vienne, France, labeled as an anarchist. Created by Alphonse Bertillon in 1894, it exemplifies the pioneering work of the French forensic photographer who revolutionized criminal identification. Bertillon's "anthropometric system" combined precise full-face and profile mugshots with body measurements, predating fingerprints as a tool for police archives. Amid France's turbulent 1890s—"the age of anarchist outrages"—images like this documented suspected radicals during a wave of bombings and arrests. Dutheil's stark, clinical gaze reflects the era's social tensions, blending portraiture with surveillance. Printed as a small albumen silver print from a glass negative (10.5 x 7 cm), the medium offered exceptional clarity and detail, ideal for identification files. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gilman Collection, this photograph transcends criminology, offering a window into late 19th-century labor unrest and the birth of forensic photography as both art and science.

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 ...