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| Alphonse Bertillon Anarchist Victorine Trucano 1894 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art |
The Paris police clerk Alphonse Bertillon gave his name to a phenomenon known as Bertillonage. Curators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art explain its nature and purpose –
"The system had three components: anthropometric measurement, precise verbal description of the prisoner's physical characteristics, and standardized photographs of the face. In the early 1890s Paris was subject to a wave of bombings and assassination attempts carried out by anarchist proponents of "propaganda of the deed." One of Bertillon's greatest successes came in March 1892 when his system of criminal identification led to the arrest of an anarchist bomber and career criminal who went by the name Ravachol. The publicity surrounding the case earned Bertillon the Legion of Honor and encouraged police departments around the world to adopt his anthropometric system."
Hundred of Bertillon's police photos now repose in New York at the Met. One reflection they prompt is that the subjects almost certainly never saw them.
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| Alphonse Bertililon Anarchist Annette Soubrier 1894 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alphonse Bertillon Anarchist Péronne Pallaz 1894 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alphonse Bertillon Anarchist Antoinette Cazal 1894 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alphonse Bertillon Anarchist Minna Schrader 1894 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alphonse Bertillon Anarchist Caroline Herman 1894 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alphonse Bertillon Anarchist Marie Zanini 1894 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alphonse Bertillon Anarchist Clotilde Adnet 1894 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alphonse Bertillon Anarchist Marie Bertout 1894 albumen silver Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alphonse Bertillon Anarchist Eva Chiroki 1894 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alphonse Bertillon Anarchist Louise Pioget 1894 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alphonse Bertillon Anarchist Jeanne Malpet 1894 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alphonse Bertillon Anarchist Léontine Borreman 1894 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Alphonse Bertillon Anarchist Jeanne Marie Adnet 1894 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art |