Four women playfully strip in emulation of Jean-Baptiste Regnault‘s Les Trois Grâces, (1799) in the Louvre.

This photo turned up yesterday on the feed of one of my European correspondents on Facebook. I was curious, and when I looked into into its background, I found the picture first appeared a year ago, also on Facebook, from which it was promptly removed on grounds of allegedly violating FB’s “community standards.”

The original poster (possibly the photographer?), one Jim Harris, responded indignantly to FB’s censorship on HuffPo.

Porte de Paris, August 14, 1914.

It is always a bit disconcerting to be reminded that the distant past existed in brilliant colors and not simply in the sepia tones of of the black and white photos we are accustomed to seeing.

Some of the images go back as afar as 1909, a few are as recent as 1920 even 1930. The great majority are all from 1914.

Curiouseggs reposted them from Paris 1914.

January 1939. “Sunflower Plantation. Son of tenant farmer in corner of living room. Pace, Mississippi.”

From Shorpy’s.

photo: taken in Bethel, Alaska by Susan Barstow.

Common gull (Larus canis) attacks White-tailed Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) in Norway. Photo: Markus Varesvuo.

Daily Mail.

Can you spot the impala?

The Daily Mail recently published a feature on the “Vanishing Act” Nature photography of Art Wolfe.

Definitely worth a look.

Hat tip to Karen L. Myers.

Perverse Nature fun From the Daily Mail, teasing hungry bear with food that is withheld:

So THAT’S what it’s like to be eaten by a polar bear! Photographer inches from animal’s jaws as he takes wildlife shots from safety of perspex cage.

(The video is currently “unavailable,” but I find that they usually get these running again a day later. Try it again tomorrow.)

Via Madame Scherzo.

Lemuel Cook (September 10, 1759 – May 20, 1866)

Lemuel Cook was born in Litchfield County, Connecticut, enlisted in Sheldon’s Horse, the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons, fought in Westchester County, at the Battle of Brandywine, in the Virginia Campaign, and was present at Cornwallis’s surrender. He received a discharge, with George Washington’s signature, in 1784. He lived long enough to survive the Civil War and was one of seven Revolutionary War veterans who survived long enough to be photographed.

He was profiled and some of his recollections were published here.