Adolfo Farsari (1841–1898) was an Italian photographer based in Yokohama, Japan. Following a brief military career, including service in the American Civil War, he became a successful entrepreneur and commercial photographer. His photographic work was highly regarded, particularly his hand-coloured portraits and landscapes, which he sold mostly to foreign residents and visitors to the country. Farsari's images were widely distributed, presented or mentioned in books and periodicals, and sometimes recreated by artists in other media; they shaped foreign perceptions of the people and places of Japan and to some degree affected how Japanese saw themselves and their country. His studio – the last notable foreign-owned studio in Japan – was one of the country's largest and most prolific commercial photographic firms. Largely due to Farsari's exacting technical standards and his entrepreneurial abilities it had a significant influence on the development of photography in Japan.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1327:

Fourteen-year old Edward III became King of England, but the country was ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_III_of_England

1554:

Jesuit missionaries José de Anchieta and Manoel da Nóbrega established a mission at São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga, which grew to become São Paulo, Brazil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Paulo

1755:

Russian Empress Elizabeth issued a decree ordering the establishment of what is now Lomonosov Moscow State University (main building pictured), today the largest university in Russia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomonosov_Moscow_State_University

1919:

The Paris Peace Conference, convened to build a lasting peace after World War I, approved the proposal to create the League of Nations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations

1924:

The first Winter Olympic Games opened at the foot of Mont Blanc in Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France, attracting more than 200 athletes from 16 nations, competing in 16 events. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Olympic_Games

2006:

Three independent observing campaigns announced the discovery of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb, a super-Earth extrasolar planet 21,500 ± 3,300 light years away from Earth near the center of the Milky Way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

statutory (adj): Of, relating to, enacted or regulated by a written law http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/statutory

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one, but the wise man is foolish to give them the lie. --W. Somerset Maugham http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham