Beautiful and elegant. I wonder if any of the descendants of the people you colorized have seen your work and appreciate your skills in making their relatives live again. You are so good at this work.

In B&W a 'girl next door', but after colorization a 'queen', Rob!
Shows perfectly to me what colorization can do with and image when it's done perfectly like this one. You're undoubtedly a master when it comes to this kind of art, my friend!

I agree with John, how special it would it would be if you could share these with their descendants, excellent once again! tigs=^..^=

Great job! I wonder what life she lived.

Sometimes studying the tiniest element of a photo can reveal amazing things. "Vesta" (although I read her name as "Vista" on the photo--that second letter is entirely closed... copy it, enlarge it, and flip it upside down and you'll see), is wearing a tiny pin just below the right downward point (as we view it) of her lace collar. It is an updated version of the Omega Chi sorority pin. The first pin is an overlapped omega and chi (Omega and X--for all you greeks out there), designed by one of the five founding members and the pin was crafted out of beaten dental gold. The one that Vesta/Vista is wearing is the one adopted in 1906 (does that date sound familiar? Go up and read Rob's post info), at their convention in Greencastle, Indiana. With this version, the Chi Omega badge was standardized and the types of stones allowed were limited to only pearls or diamonds. Here is a photo of the badge she is wearing. (scroll down a little ways when you reach the link, to the 6th photo--not including the line of founder photos.) The image is not clear enough to determine if the engraving on the two curved arms of the Omega are actually there. Your data on the photo, Rob, indicates Washington, DC, but not necessarily as the original source, just the repository. So it's possible that the photo was taken in Indiana, during or after the convention. Chi Omega was founded April 5, 1895 at the University of Arkansas. It first expanded in the fall of 1898 with a Chi chapter at Jessamine College, located in Nicholasville, Kentucky, and Hellmuth Ladies' College, located in London, Ontario. Both chapters were transferred to other schools in 1903. By its 10th anniversary, in 1905, Chi Omega had installed 17 chapters throughout the United States. I cannot, however, with web surfing ad nauseum, discover if there was an OX sorority in Washington, DC in 1906. She was obviously proud of her affiliation (I'm a Sigma Nu, myself). Perhaps one of you ladies out there has an answer to this vexing (to me, anyway) question.

Phew! Okay, that's enough. Now back to our regularly programmed submissions.

-Nik

Hi Nik just to let you know I really enjoy your comments my friend.

Rob

This is a really lovely treatment. Far more subtle and well executed than most of the hand painting of the day. I have hundreds of postcards of pre-WWI Europe that my grandfather brought back after his service in the war. Most are black and white, but a few are hand painted and the level of skill varied widely. I like seeing such a fascinating and pristine piece of history given new life like this. It tells a story without words about a time utterly gone, as extinct as the dinosaurs. In that sense, it isn't just a picture, but a window into history and the people we used to be. That it also qualifies as a sublime work of art is a testament to it's beauty and timelessness. You've given new life to a story that needed to be experienced again. Well told.

Another outstanding beauty and work - they sure had ivory skin

Subtle and yet stunning restoration. I am impressed by the image in that the fabric is so very well captured, for example. Not sure what type of cameras they had then, but they are remarkable photos.