PORTRAIT PARLE

CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION
HISTORY OF PORTRAIT PARLE
ADVANCEMENT OF BERTILLONAGE
BERTILLON CARD
TRAITS DESCRIBED IN BERTILLON CARDS
DESCRIPTION OF TRAITS
CASE STUDY
DECLINE OF BERTILLONAGE
REFERENCES
INTRODUCTION

PORTRAIT PARLE:
These two French words mean “speaking likeness”.
Portrait Parle can be defined as a rigorous system for verbal
description of physical characteristics of the subject. It is based
on the Bertillon method of criminal identification by
measurements of the human body and is still in practice today to
some extent.
      A distinctive description of every feature of the face and head
are especially valuable for investigation, especially when a set
of the suspect's fingerprints is not available in his file.
 
 In order to recognize individuals who were repeatedly
arrested, Bertillon developed means by which portraits
could be sorted by common morphological
characteristics—the specific shapes of the different parts
of the face—and thus an individual’s prior photo could
be found without having to resort to browsing through
large collections of portraits. This classification is
known as the “portrait parlé” or spoken portrait.
 HISTORY OF PORTRAIT PARLE
 In 1882, Alphonse Bertillon, also called “Father of Scientific
Detection” said that anthropology could be invoked to aid in
the sight recognisation and identification of criminals.
 Employing these methods of scientific description, he
worked out a system of identification, utilizing 11skeletal
measurements which are practicably unchanged after
maturity and are not affected by increase or loss of weight.

Alphonse Bertillon
 (1853-1914)
 Hisclassification provided a basis for modern recall
system that would aid the artist in producing sketches as
well as the development of composite kits, catalogs and
computer systems.

Originally, he meant for the catalogue to

be an identification aid for recognition of
local prisoners but later it was found to
be useful for obtaining description of
unknown suspects also.
 Bertillon stated from the observations that human bone
structure was more or less absolutely fixed by the age of
20, and that the skeleton varied tremendously in its
dimensions between one person and another.
Before DNA evidences-and before that, the
ubiquitous adoption of finger printing- became
the dominant mode in which criminals were
identified by law enforcements, another form of
biometric identification was widespread around
the world.
The portrait parle system also known as
Bertillonage, had a major impact on
criminology, specially in its native France.
 Itwas not until 1882, however, that Bertillon was given the
opportunity to prove the validity of his system in the eyes of
the Prefect of Police.
 After 3 month trial period, he was able to identify a repeat
offender by proving that the man, who had just been caught on
the scene of theft, had indeed been arrested sometime before.
Despite using a false identity, the criminal was
betrayed by his own body measurements and quickly
confessed.
 ADVANCEMENT OF BERTILLONAGE

 Whereas the anthropometric system made it possible to

distinguish between two distinct individuals, it did not
bring irrefutable proof of an individual’s identity.
 While not fully managing to fix this major flaw, Bertillon
designed an incremental physical description card also
called the Bertillon card, comprising of four areas:
 anthropometry- a field he enriched with new
topological descriptions of ear, nose and iris.
 An incremental- a detailed physical description method
which formed the basis of portrait parle.
 photographic description- which he continually
enhanced by defining a general protocol for face.
 An inventory and precise mapping of all specific
marks to be found on the body- scars, tattoos, moles
and the like.
 The Bertillon card included spaces for
description of the prisoner’s
eyes,
ears,
lips,
beard,
hair color,
skin color,
ethnicity,
forehead,
nose
chin
general contour of head
hair growth pattern
eyebrows
eyeballs and orbit
mouth
neck
inclination of shoulders
attitude
Voice
language
habiliments
 BERTILLON CARD
The Bertillon card included two photographs, one face-on and one in profile.
25 TRAITS DESCRIBED IN
BERTILLON CARD:
 Gender
 Face shape
 Chin shape
 Skin color
 Hair type (curly, wavy, straight)
 Widow’s peak
 Color of eyebrows
 Eyebrow thickness
 Eyebrow placement
 Eye color
 Eye’s distance apart
 Eye size
Eye shape
Eyelash length
Mouth size
Lip thickness
Nose size
Nose shape
Nostril shape
Earlobe attachment
Ear pits
Hairy ears
Cheek freckles
Forehead freckles
Hair color
DESCRIPTION OF FOLLOWING
FEATURES CONSIDERED IN PORTRAIT
PARLE:
FACE: oblong, oval, round, rectangular, square, triangular, diamond
WIDOW’S PEAK:
SKIN COLOR: very fair, fair white skin, light brown, moderate
brown, dark brown, deeply pigmented dark brown to black.

HAIR TYPES : straight, wavy, curly, coils, undefined coils

EYES: round, almond, droopy, droopy hooded, Asian, round Asian etc.
EYE COLOR: gray, green, blue, honey, brown, black
• COLOR OF EYEBROWS: black, dark red, dark brown,
medium red, brown, light red, blonde, light blonde
DISTANCE BETWEEN EYES: wide set, down
turned, almond eyes, close set eyes, hooded eyes, almond eyes.
AVERAGE DISTANCE BETWEEN EYES:
Types of eyebrows: thin, natural, thick
EYE SHAPES: protruding eyes, small eyes,
sunken eyes
BEARD STYLES: hollywoodian, old dutch, ducktail,
winnfield, pencil, anchor, handlebar, super mario, mutton chops to name a
few.
CHIN TYPES:
TYPES OF NOSE:
NOSE LENGTH:
FOREHEAD AND CHEEK FRECKLES:
EARS: large, small, ear sticking in, ear
sticking out
HAIRY EAR:
TYPES OF LIPS: close points, flat tops,
roller coaster, large lower
OCCUPATIONAL MARKS:
Some marks develop due to the kind of
occupation performed by an individual.
Some examples are given below:
• Tailor: marks of pin pricks.
• Dish washer: hands are rough, soddy and
bigger in shape due to continuous
exposure to water.
• Truck driver: Corns on palm.
 SAMPLE BERTILLON CARDS

Bertillon card for Thomas Conway, Measurements for Thomas Conway.

arrested for larceny (portraits), May 11, 1911.
 Bertillon card for May Walker,
Bertillon card for May Walker,
arrested for general theft
arrested for general theft
(measurements), September 8, 1910
(portraits), September 8, 1910.
CASE STUDY:
In the late 1800’s, France was a haven for anarchist groups and
the location of related acts of terrorism.  On March 11, 1892,
terrorists dynamited the home of a Paris judge who had presided
over the convictions of a group of anarchists the year before.  The
judge escaped injury but was in danger of future attacks.  
 Under merciless grilling, a harmless schoolteacher with anarchist
connections broke down and identified the bomber, a five foot
four inch, bearded terrorist named Ravachol.  The police
suspected that a man who met that description, a man named
Francois Koenigstein, might be Ravachol.  At the time
Koenigstein was wanted, by the police in several French towns,
for murder, theft, burglary and grave robbery. 
 When arrested in Paris in 1889 for theft, a case that did not result
in his conviction, but Koenigstein had been measured by
Bertillon. .
 Therefore, if the man who called himself Ravachol was
indeed Koenigstein, and was arrested for any crime, the
police would learn of his true identify and the extent of his
criminal activity.  Moreover, if Ravachol, the political
terrorist was in fact a common murderer and thief, this
revelation would deal the anarchist movement a serious blow.
 In April, 1892, Ravachol struck again, bombing an apartment
house that was the home of a government prosecutor.  The
prosecutor was not injured but four other tenants of the
building were seriously hurt.  Ravachol claimed credit, and
the anarchist newspapers portrayed  him as a hero. 
Two days later, the police, after receiving a tip that the
terrorist was in a particular restaurant having breakfast,
stormed the establishment and took him into custody. 
 Bertillon took the suspect’s measurements, checked  his files
for a match, then announced that the man who claimed to be
the famous terrorist Ravachol was in fact the common
criminal,  Francois Koenigstein.
The terrorist arrested as Ravachol, notwithstanding
Bertillon’s declaration regarding his true identify, denied that
he was Koenigstein.  He was tried, however, as Koenigstein
and was convicted of  the Paris apartment bombing. 
When Koenigstein went on trial for murder, a killing in
Lyons, France, the judge sentenced him to death.  It was at
that point that the man who called himself Ravachol admitted
to being Francois Koenigstein.  He confessed to another
murder, several thefts, and grave robbery.  
Portrait Parle for Ravachol
The Koenigstein-Ravachol affair made headlines all
over Europe, added luster to Bertillon’s fame, and
spread the adoption of anthropometry to other
nations.  In 1892, India became the first country
outside of France to
adopt bertillonage nationwide. 

Five years later, during which time 250,000 Indians

were measured, the country would switch to
fingerprinting.  Bertillonage was not a failure in
India, it was just that fingerprinting, as a system of
identification, was simply less involved and more
efficient.
DECLINE OF
BERTILLONAGE
The “portrait parle” method remained
prestigious for quite a while, as it was believed
that experienced police officers were able to
draw on it to “identify with certainty a suspect
who mingled with the crowd”.
However telegraphic transmission of data was
difficult- despite the invention of several
dedicated codes- and no agreement was ever
reached on the universal terminology, which
proved fatal to the portrait parle, whose use
gradually declined in the inter war period.
 FINGERPRINT KILLED THE
BERTILLON STAR

The complexity of the Bertillon system- the very

thing that provided it with such accurate and reliable
data- also proved to be its downfall: it was simply too
cumbersome to replicate with sufficient accuracy.
A fingerprint is a physical sign that cannot be
falsified or disguised, and the mathematical
likelihood of two individuals having identical
fingerprints is infinitely small.
REFERENCES
http://criminocorpus.cnrs.fr
http://onin.com
http://jimfisher.edinboro.edu
http://www.britannica.com
http://www.infojustice.com
http://www.casebook.org
www.nlm.nih.gov
http://www.forensicartist.com
 HIMANSHI UPADHYAYA
 M.Sc FORENSIC SCIENCES (I SEM)