When Tattooing Became a Business

It is likely that you are interested in when the desire of certain individuals in Europe to completely cover their bodies with tattoos and present themselves to the public first appeared. Until the second half of the 19th century, information about such people was sporadic. It referred to “savages” brought from the South Seas region, and later to those Europeans who reached the islands of Oceania and, living among the local population, underwent tattooing in order to eventually receive the highest honors from chiefs and priests.

Among the most well-known Europeans tattooed by the inhabitants of the islands of Oceania were the Frenchman Joseph Cabri and the Englishmen Edward Roberts, James F. O’Connell, and John Rutherford. The latter lived for ten years among the Māori of New Zealand, where, among other tattoos, he acquired the “moko” – a spiral facial tattoo. John Rutherford described his experiences in a book that became a bestseller in many countries. Roberts, after spending several years on the islands of the South Seas, moved to India, where he disappeared without a trace. The fate of Cabri, O’Connell, and Rutherford took a different turn: in order to earn a living, they exhibited their densely tattooed bodies, traveling with itinerant freak shows across France and England. Cabri exhibited himself between 1817 and 1822, while Rutherford did so in the early 1830s.

Rutherford became a model for the first, still non-professional European tattooists. In 1829, two medical students from a British university, John Godwin and John Sullan, were fined £5 for forcibly tattooing a 12-year-old boy in order to present him as a genuine Māori.

O’Connell was the first of the tattooed Europeans to travel to the American continent and present himself to the public there. His biography, like those of Cabri, Roberts, and Rutherford, was filled with numerous sensational and mysterious episodes. He arrived in New York in 1835. In the same year, he was accepted into one of the American circuses. Performing as part of a circus troupe, he enjoyed great success until 1854.

“Captain Elvy” Campbell was tattooed by the artist George Fosdick in the 1940s

To turn an ordinary tattooed body into a business required the talents of Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810–1891) in the field of advertising. Together with D. Bailey, he founded the largest circus enterprise in the world, specializing in presenting to the public the most astonishing “curiosities of nature and art.” Barnum, a master of mystification, defined the place of tattooed people within the world of fairs. Among dwarfs, bearded women, giants, women without the lower half of the body, and corpulent performers, the tattooed individual became a notable figure, and tattooing itself became a profession. The American historian of tattooing Albert Parry wrote about Barnum’s abilities: “He opened a business in tattooing. Every museum, for advertising purposes, was obliged to hire a tattooed girl with an invented biography claiming that she had been kidnapped and covered with tattoos.” Indeed, Barnum knew how to intrigue the public.

A very famous and at the same time mysterious figure (perhaps that is precisely why he was so well known) among tattooed individuals in 19th-century Europe was a certain Konstantin, also known as “Prince Konstantin,” “Captain Georgi Travella,” and “The Tattooed Man from Burma.” He himself claimed to be a Souliote (an Albanian from Souli), or one of the wild, bold men originating from the harsh Balkans. During his performances, Konstantin also appeared in Barnum’s circus, performing with its troupe in different seasons and each time causing a sensation with his extraordinary appearance. In Barnum’s circus, Konstantin earned $1,000 per week and kept a speaker at his side who, before each public appearance during which Konstantin displayed his “gallery” of tattoos, would announce to the audience: “This wild tattooed man always fascinates all women.”

In 1872, Konstantin visited Europe, where he remained for four years. During his stay in Germany, he made a strong impression not only on the general public but also on representatives of the scientific community, primarily anthropologists, ethnologists, and physicians, who examined him repeatedly. Konstantin was studied at meetings of such organizations as the Schlesian Society for Folk Culture based in Wrocław, the Anthropological Society, and the Society of Physicians in Vienna. He was also seen at the congress of German biologists and physicians in Stuttgart. The Berlin Anthropological Society showed the greatest interest, devoting more than 20 years to his detailed study and publishing numerous scientific works.

Konstantin bore 388 tattooed motifs, including 137 on the lower limbs, 52 on the abdomen, 51 on the left arm, 50 on the right arm, 50 on the chest, 37 on the back, 8 on the neck, and 2 on the forehead. The designs covered almost the entire body, with the exception of the nose and the feet. His skin featured panthers, tigers, gazelles, elephants, snakes, crocodiles, lizards, salamanders, toads, shells, snails, eagles, peacocks, pearls, owls, swans, sphinxes, dragons, and other animals and mythological creatures, as well as female figures, weapons, and similar motifs. Some of the images were distinguished by a high level of artistic execution. The wings of birds seemed to rise above the body.

The mystery surrounding Konstantin’s origin, his age at the time of his appearance in Europe, and the time and place where he covered his body with numerous and diverse tattoos has never been solved. After many successes, he suddenly disappeared without a trace in 1892. When Konstantin – a Greek, an Albanian, a Turk, a Souliote with an American passport, by profession a smuggler of weapons, a gold seeker, a pirate, and a swindler – was believed to have perished in the Mediterranean Sea, a certain man named Felicien reported in Vienna that this human phenomenon, having once become wealthy, withdrew from social life and died in poverty. Who was that man? A follower of Konstantin? His new incarnation? These questions will no longer find answers.

It goes without saying that following tattooed men, who over time no longer aroused the same level of public interest, women also began to present body art publicly. The first of them to dare to display, for money, a tattoo covering her entire body was the American Irene Woodward, known as “the beautiful Irene.” From 1890, for several years, Irene Woodward appeared before audiences in Berlin, where crowds flocked to the “Castan’s Panopticum.”

The American woman had around 400 individual images tattooed on her body, the execution of which, according to many connoisseurs, indicated a “certain artistic taste.” Among the most common motifs found on the skin of “the beautiful Irene” were butterflies, flowers, Native Americans, insects, scenes from social life, and similar subjects.

“The Beautiful Irene” gained great fame and lived off telling stories about her tattoos, executed in the American style of the time. According to her, she had them done in the Wild West in Texas to avoid attracting the attention of hostile Native American tribes. A doubtful story, yet her admirers did not ask unnecessary questions. Among butterflies, flowers, angels, suns, eyes, and sentimental scenes, for example farewell scenes with sailors, her body was crossed in various directions by ribbons bearing inscriptions with messages such as: “Nothing without honor,” “Never despair,” “I live for those I love.” By convention, these ribbons or scrolls of text were placed among decorative vignettes, flowers, hearts, and animals. This is how the American style of tattooing took shape.

The German anthropologist Johann Ranke, who introduced “the beautiful Irene” to the members of the Anthropological Society in Munich, noted that “the skin of the attractive lady shines and feels like velvet,” while those present at the presentation regretted that “the lady was too reserved, showing only her bare arms, neck, shoulders, and legs slightly above the knees, as she appeared dressed as a dancer during the performance.”

French criminals with tattoos from the late 19th to early 20th century. Such images were often used by the police for the identification and cataloguing of prisoners

As expected, “the beautiful Irene” soon had followers – the American married couple Emma and Frank Burg. On Frank’s chest, a portrait of his wife Emma in a reclining pose was tattooed. On Burg’s left arm there was a sailor’s button tattoo, while his legs, from the thighs down to the feet, were covered with numerous motifs executed in a Native American style. Emma Burg had 250 motifs on her body, with her husband’s name standing out prominently on her chest.

The Burg couple were prepared for their new business by two tattoo artists. The chests of the spouses were tattooed by the American artist Samuel O’Reilly, while the accomplished English master Tom Riley depicted the Crucifixion on Frank’s back and “The Last Supper” on his wife’s back, using Leonardo da Vinci’s famous work as a model. In order to prolong public interest in this form of entertainment for some time, tattooed individuals began to be accompanied by increasingly incredible stories.

Thus, a certain Carrie, who appeared in a London theatre in 1907, presented a vivid story claiming that she had been kidnapped as a child and forcibly tattooed. Miss Mara described herself as the abducted daughter of a farmer. Others found simple tattoos insufficiently interesting. Lillie Barnum, for example, had a tattoo made with rose oil that always carried a sweet scent.

Traditional Japanese tattoos, known as irezumi

Despite the public’s fervent interest, the press of that time viewed these performers with hostility. In 1907, H.E. Lüdeke wrote in the journal “Anthropophyteia” that they were individuals “with a disturbed psyche, fakirs, tattooed pimps, often men with developed musculature, at the same time cunning and fearless, using their appearance to excite an audience of poor taste.”

However, the entertainment industry emerging in those years paid little attention to such assessments and comments from the press. Its first idols included both the fully tattooed individuals described above and many others who, for various reasons, did not enter the annals of history.

Author: Nataliya CHAYKA – medically trained aesthetic practitioner, 30+ years of clinical practice

Editor: Nataliya CHAYKA – Editor-in-Chief of ESTportal

First published: 2015
Updated in line with current guidelines and relevant research: 2026