Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Execution by elephant

Execution by elephant
Voting period ends on 4 Nov 2023  at 01:15:15 (UTC)
 * Reason:High quality engraving, good digitalization
 * Articles in which this image appears:Crushing (execution), Execution by elephant, Louis Rousselet
 * FP category for this image:Featured pictures/Diagrams, drawings, and maps/Drawings
 * Creator:Émile Bayard


 * Support as nominator – Vinícius O. (talk) 01:15, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Support – Pummm! OMG! — Hamid Hassani (talk) 04:14, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
 * I don't love the crop, and source isn't given. But it's a strong enough image that I'm neutral as long as Gallica doesn't have a better copy Adam Cuerden (talk)Has about 8.6% of all FPs. 04:34, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * I managed to find a possible source of the image at HathiTrust. It appears in the weekly French newspaper L'Illustration Volume LVIII N°1505, which was published in 30 December 1871. However the newspaper states that the engraving of the elephantine execution is actually just an extract from a book(?) called Tour du Monde. My french is pretty lacking so I can't really read the surrounding text around the image. Howardcorn33 (talk) 17:54, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Here's Gallica's scan from the original print in Le Tour du Monde; it's of significantly lower resolution. The Wellcome Collection has a cleaner print from 1875, though the resolution isn't great either. Without the caption, it's hard to determine where the version uploaded by Hohum comes from, unless maybe they remember? --Paul_012 (talk) 07:36, 27 October 2023 (UTC)
 * download. Metadata points to Getty images. Metadata also points out it's "from the book Tour du monde (Hachette), illustration from the magazine L'Illustration, Journal Universel, volume LVII, no 1504, December 23, 1871.". (Hohum @ ) 10:07, 27 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Wait why are they selling a public-domain image for €475.00 euros???? Howardcorn33 (talk) 19:46, 27 October 2023 (UTC)
 * ....Some of my restorations are on there, being profited off of by random people. They set it at a price point that a publisher will just pay and stop looking Adam Cuerden (talk)Has about 8.6% of all FPs. 22:39, 27 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Ah I actually forgot to check the metadata. The original digitisation appears to be from de Agostini Picture Library (here via Scala; not the above Getty link, which is a different version). Scala also has another version with the caption intact. --Paul_012 (talk) 03:29, 28 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Comment: I wonder if the image can be better placed in context. Is it an accurate historical depiction? Or is it more a reflection of the orientalist views of the time? --Paul_012 (talk) 16:43, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * As far as I can tell the engraving, which originally comes from Louis Rousselet, should be accurate since Rousselet personally traveled to India himself and execution by elephant was also historically documented in India. It should still be noted that Rousselet's works are inherently orientalist by nature since of course he was writing for a European audience about Southern Asia, however the engraving itself is factual and thus encyclopedic. Howardcorn33 (talk) 22:03, 28 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Fair point regarding the inherent nature of such works. I just wonder if we can tell how much (if anything) was embellished in the processing of the image, from photograph to engraving. Also, I understand that cameras from that time required long exposure times, meaning that most photographs had to be staged to some degree, so it'd be interesting to know how the original shot was actually taken and what it looked like. It's not a critical issue, but I also have some concerns regarding quality (see below). --Paul_012 (talk) 11:02, 30 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Support.-- Vulcan  ❯❯❯  Sphere!  16:20, 27 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Support – In addition to being educative, it is also a really cool image. Howardcorn33 (talk) 22:07, 28 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Weak oppose. I think quality-wise, the image requires some restoration. The brown smudges and show-through from the other page are quite noticeable. --Paul_012 (talk) 11:02, 30 October 2023 (UTC)

--Armbrust The Homunculus 06:21, 4 November 2023 (UTC)