Nonne Mattu Cristoforo was photographed in the late nineteenth century wearing a traditional Sardinian outfit. The note beneath his portrait reads: “Sassari – Assassin condemned to death” while the code inked in above his headshot as II A 2779.
This code meant that he belonged in Album “A” entitled Photographs of detainees for crimes against people, within which he was in the second category for “Killers and Wounders”, as opposed to category I (Assassins) and category III (Killers of fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, children, Poisonors, Rapists).
His serial number 2779 followed the order in which the criminals were displayed in the album. These albums, seven of which are held at the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome, Italy, were originally housed in the Museum of Criminology in Rome. The photographs seem to have been intended as objects of study rather than as elements that might contribute towards an investigation or process of identification.