Reytinat. Jacques, François. 48 ans, né à Mouy (Oise). Colporteur. Anarchiste. 9/3/94.

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 frontal and profile portraits paired with precise body measurements. Printed on albumen paper for exceptional sharpness and detail, these images weren't art in the traditional sense but vital tools for identifying repeat offenders in an era before fingerprints dominated. Created amid France's turbulent 1890s "Age of Anarchist Outrages," marked by bombings and political fervor, this portrait reflects societal fears of radicalism. Reytinat's working-class gaze embodies the era's clash between authority and dissent. Today, in The Met's Gilman Collection, it stands as a haunting document of human typology, bridging photography's scientific origins with its portraiture legacy.

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 ...