Tattoos, Identity, and The Disturbing Fate of ‘Monsieur Bonheur’ - Clues to who the 19th century Frenchman was can be read on his unusually preserved remains.
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When Gemma Angel met Monsieur Bonheur, she wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Angel, pursuing her doctorate at the University College London at the time, was studying a collection of hundreds of preserved pieces of tattooed skin from European soldiers, and she was no stranger to the unconventional and the macabre. But her first glimpse of Bonheur, in a private collection in London in 2010, still managed to surprise. “Bonheur was in his library, covered up, just leaning against the wall,” Angel says. “And it was kind of a shock, but also fascinating.”
Angel had come to see the largely complete, tattooed skin of a 19th century Frenchman, which had been preserved, stuffed with horsehair, and nailed to a board. The remains, acquired some 20 years ago from an antique dealer in Paris, are currently in the possession of an individual who has asked to remain anonymous. That individual, and a handful of researchers granted access to study the unidentified Frenchman, call him “Monsieur Bonheur”—French for “happiness”—after one of his most prominent tattoos.
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Using multispectral lights and filters (right), researchers were able to see additional details of some of the tattoos, including a uniformed figure chained to a pillar.
mon.jpgMonsieur Bonheur’s lower limbs include “upside down” tattoos that would have been correctly oriented to him when seated, suggesting he may have tattooed these designs himself
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https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...preserved-skin