People who aren't, based on some who were and some who weren't.

See  references, below, for details on those who may have been. All arrangments of pixels that do not originate with references below are copyrighted. For legality of the use of material as referenced, see discussion. Resemblances to modern people are coincidental.  Other disclaimers may apply. -- dpd.

References:

	Degas: Portrait of a Young Woman, 1867,  thumbnail excerpted from Artchive.com.			From Aspasia. c/o The General Libraries | UT Austin Web Central | www@lib.utexas.edu Original source: World Noted Women. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1883. Cropped and false-colorized by dpd.
	Dante Rosetti La Ghirlandata Bridgeman Art Library at London thumbnail excerpted from http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rossetti/ , Fall 2000:			Ingres: Pauline Eleanore de Galard de Brassac de Bearn, Princesse de Broglie 1853; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Thumbnail exerpted from http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/ingres/
	Rubens. Susanna Fourment a.k.a. Chapeau de paille. Thumbnail excerpted from Artchive.com. See Van Dyke's treatment, below of the same subject, Lawrence's work below and this address for details on the subject.			Ingres: Madame d'Haussonville Thumbnail exerpted from http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/ingres/
	Caravaggio -- Martha and Mary Magdalene thumbnail excerpted from http://sunsite.dk/cgfa/caravagg/p-carava13.htm			Raphael: Maddelena. (RAFFAELLO SANZIO) -- thumbnail from WebMuseum, Paris.
	Titian --Penitent Mary Magdalen 1560s; Hermitage, St. Petersburg. thumbnail excerpted from WebMuseum, Paris			Van Dyke. Susanna Fourment and Her Daughter. See also Rubens treatment of same subject. Thumbnail excerpted from National Gallery of Art.
	Sir Thomas Lawrence -- Lady Peel, 1827. Believed to be inspired by Rubens painting of Susanna Fourment above. thumbnail excerpted from Frick Museum			Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun. Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat, circa 1782. Another work inspired by Rubens treatment of Fourment. Thumbnail excerpted from source.

Discussion:

Legality of this work emanates from the following considerations:

1. All pictures used here other than as created by the author are works (of varying degrees of originality -- see precedents established by the variations, above, on Chapeau de Paille by Rubens) created prior to 1923.

2. Title 17 of U.S. Code, even as amended by the "Sonny Bono term extension act," did not encroach so deeply upon freedom of speech, as to remove from the public domain, expressions which had already entered the public domain. Accordingly, anything published (i.e., publicly exhibited, in the case of paintings) prior to 1923 has entered the public domain. See Professor Gassaway's chart, by way of explanation.

3. The 1999 decision in Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp., SAC No. 99-560 GLT would support the notion that reuse of thumbnails is a fair use (even of copyrighted material).

4. Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel, 36 F. Supp. 2d 191 (S.D.N.Y. 1999) yielded the determination that the originality in a photograph of a two dimensional artwork is insufficient to result in a new copyright.