Human_skin_tattoed_with_a_soldier,_badge_and_anchor,_France,_Wellcome_L0057038

This record documents a Wellcom Foundation image that was available via https://wellcomecollection.org/works/uj3terqz

The image file originally available from the Wellcome is, at the time of this deposit, available via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human_skin_tattoed_with_a_soldier,_badge_and_anchor,_France,_Wellcome_L0057038.jpg

Additionally, this image is described, together with the Wellcome collection URL in a book chapter of Dr Rebecca Khan and Rainer Simon (ISBN 978-1-914481-32-1, Kahn, R. and Simon, R. 2023. Skulls, skin and names: The ethics of managing heritage collections data online. In: Palladino, C. and Bodard, G. (Eds.), Ubiquity Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/bcv.k License: CC BY 4.0).

WADM annotations attached to the current record can be viewed against the Wellcome file now deposited in the hasdai InvenioRDM repository. Click on 'Open using annostor' inthe resources panel on the right. Because of evolving sensitivity policies, you will be asked to authenticate via ORCID and to acknowlege the access conditions for the hasdai repository. 

The Wellcome Foundation descriptive metadata for this image, retrieved from the Wikimedia Foundation follows:

Tattooed on to human skin are naval symbols including an anchor and the image of a soldier with the word "Legion" above it. This may suggest the person was in the French Army or the French Foreign Legion. The skin was purchased by one of Henry Wellcome's collecting agents, Captain Johnston-Saint, in June 1929 from Dr Villette, a Parisian surgeon. Villette worked in military hospitals and collected and preserved hundreds of samples from the autopsies of French soldiers. In the late 1800s, tattoos were often seen as markers of criminal tendencies, or 'primitiveness'. Medical men tried to interpret common images and symbols. Tattoos were also used as a tool for identification, a practice that continues today.

Place prepared: Paris, France

Medical Photographic Library, Wellcome Foundation, London.
Keywords: tattoo; human remains; post mortem