150
Rome). He published famous albums such as L’Italia
contemporanea (1864), with portraits of historical
fi gures. After 1872 he sold all his Italian studios and re-
turned to France. He settled in Lyon, in rue Camille and
later in rue des Archers 2, devoting his activity mainly
to portraits. Here he died on 24 November 1889.
Silvia Paoli
BERTALL, CHARLES ALBERT,
VICOMTE D’ ARNOUX (1820–1882)
French painter and photographer
Bertall was born Charles Albert, vicomte d’ Arnoux,
comte de Limoges-Saint-Saëns, the 18th of December
1820, in Paris, France. He studied drawing with neo-
classical painter Michel Martin Drolling 1786–1851
and began his artistic career as a draftsman for popular
novels—he illustrated Honoré de Balzac’s, from 1843
—and newspapers.
At the same time, Albert d’Arnoux changed his com-
plicated name for Bertal (an anagram of his fi rst name),
which became Bertall on Balzac’s advice.
In the middle of the century, he met Hippolyte Ba-
yard, one of the most active people in the photography
realm, and became involved with photography. Together
they opened a studio in 1862, place of Madeleine in
Paris, specialized in portraits and art reproduction.
They separated themselves in 1866—the same year
he enrolled in the Société française de photographie
Society—but Bertall continued this activity under the
name Bertall and Cie and portrayed the artists and intel-
lectuals of his time.
From the beginning of the 1860s, he wrote his own
novels and illustrated them. He kept both occupations:
writing and illustrating books, and taking photographs
of his contemporaries.
He died in the South of France, in his retirement in
Soyons, in February 1882.
Marion Perceval
Illustrated books and newspaper Press:
Journal de la Jeunesse
Magasin Pittoresque
Journal pour rire
L’Illustration
La Semaine
Revue Comique
Publications
Les Infortunes de Touche-à-tout. Paris: Hachette, 1861.
Mlle Marie-sans-soin., Paris: Hachette, 1867.
M. Hurluberlu et ses déplorables aventures. Paris: Hachette,
1869.
La Comédie de notre temps. Paris: Plon, 1874–1876.
Pierre l’irrésolu,. Paris : Hachette, 187?.
Les Contes de ma mère. Paris: Plon, 1877.
La Vigne, voyage autour des vins de France, étude physi-
ologique.... Paris: Plon, 1878.
Jean le paresseux. Paris: Hachette, 1879.
Les Plages de France. Paris: Marpon et Flammarion, 1886.
Georges le distrait. Paris: Ardant, 1889.
Les Enfants terribles. Paris: Lahure [undated].Exhibitions
1855, Universal exhibition, London (with Bayard).
1865, French Photographic Society.BERTILLON, ALPHONSE (1853–1914)
French photographer
Alphonse Bertillon, who developed the fi rst scientifi c
prisoner identifi cation system though the use of pho-
tography, was born on 24 April 1853 to Louis-Adolphe
and Zoé Bertillon. After an academic career marked by
his expulsion from countless schools, Bertillon earned
a baccalauréat at the advanced age of 20. He then com-
pleted mandatory military service and perfected his
English by working as a tutor in England.
Bertillon’s poor academic qualifi cations and his lack
of interest in any apparent career worried his father.
The elder Bertillon used his connections to obtain an
entry-level job for his son as a clerk with the Prefecture
of Police of Paris in 1879. The job required Bertillon to
fi le information on criminals but the fi ling system was
so unwieldy as to be virtually useless. The French police
had collected masses of information on criminals but no
systematic organization system existed so the informa-
tion could not be accessed. Folders simply piled up in
the fi ling offi ce. Bertillon immediately recognized the
need for a more effi cient system of management.
Criminal identifi cation in France before Bertillon was
based on photographs, personal recognition, and alpha-
betical registration. The French police had been taking
daguerreotypes of prisoners as early as 1841 but neither
the pose nor the lighting conditions were standardized.
Additionally, a photograph became obsolete as soon as
the shutter snapped. The picture did not age as did its
subject. If a criminal was identifi ed, no clear language
existed to transmit the details of the photograph to police
offi cers since the defi nition of “large” or “average” is not
precise. The French police had no ability to positively
identify a person, especially when criminals were in
the habit of using disguises and aliases to conceal their
true identities.
Bertillon believed that nature did not repeat itself.
A mathematical system of identifi cation would permit
easy recording and retrieval of information. But when
Bertillon submitted his proposal on 1 October 1879, he
was advised by the chief of police to seek psychiatric