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Please undelete my Tewodros image (it is within the scope). It is not a personal photo

Dear Aafi, please undelete my Tewodros image. It is an educational, realistic depiction of a historical figure, Tewodros II. It is not a personal photo. There are many images of historical figures on wikimedia. I really want to share this image. Please undelete it. I may have accidentally mislabeled it. Thank you so much for your consideration :) Theclouds500skycapybara (talk) 20:27, 21 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Belbury, want to say anything? _signed,Aafi ^(talk) 05:02, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Only to indicate Commons talk:Criteria for speedy deletion#Explicitly expand F10 to include AI?, if you're not already aware of F10 being used in that context. A person with no contributions to any projects asking an AI to "draw a historical painting of Tewodros II" (which any other person could also ask an AI) seems more like personal curiosity than an act of universal educational value. Belbury (talk) 08:01, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I understand the skepticism, but I did not ask an AI to simply "draw a historical painting of Tewodros II." I am highly well-versed in Ethiopian history and had the AI specifically use certain contemporaneous images of the emperor and selected that particular image because of it fits written descriptions of the emperor particularly well. Even entering the same prompt gets different images each time. I had to select this image out of multiple images as a good fit. There was more individuality involved in producing that image than taking a picture of a historical building in my city and uploading it, which would have been within the scope. I think high quality AI images that serve a valid educational purpose, as that image does, should not be speedily deleted. Theclouds500skycapybara (talk) 14:31, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I really appreciate your consideration of this issue, and I will elaborate. I really appreciate your consideration of my request and want to put in the effort to show this is not just a scribble. There are multiple images of Tewodros available publicly. Certain ones are attested to be of higher fidelity to his true appearance than others. For example, this image was sketched directly after the emperor's death: https://martinplaut.com/2023/03/03/a-drawing-of-emperor-theodorus-after-the-capture-of-magdala-1868/. Similarly, this image was particularly vouched to be very true-to-life by Hormuzd Rassam in his Narrative of the British Mission to Theodore (https://books.google.pn/books?id=vNwLAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false), who met the emperor in real life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tewodros_II#/media/File:Emp_Tewodros_supervising_crossing_of_the_Blue_Nile_mod_Pur.jpg. Here are just two examples of descriptions of the emperor from historical sources:

From Narrative of Captivity in Abyssinia by Henry Blanc (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8815/pg8815-images.html):

"When I first met Theodore, in January, 1866, he must have been about forty-eight years of age. His complexion was darker than that of the majority of his countrymen, the nose slightly curved, the mouth large, the lips so small as hardly to be perceived. Of middle size, well knit, wiry rather than muscular, he excelled as a horseman, in the use of the spear, and on foot would tire his hardiest followers. The expression of his dark eyes, slightly depressed, was strange; if he was in good humour they were soft, with a kind of gazelle-like timidity about them that made one love him; but when angry the fierce and bloodshot eye seemed to shed fire."

From Narrative of a Journey Through Abyssinia in 1862-1863 by Henry Dufton (pgs. 96-99, 100, 102-108, 114-120)

"His appearance was that of a man of about forty-five, of middling stature, and possessed of a well-knit but not over-powerful frame, conveying more the idea of being tough and wiry than of strong physical development. His complexion is dark, approaching to black, but he has nothing of the negro about him. His features are altogether those of an European. His head is well formed, and his hair is arranged in large plaits extending back from the forehead. The forehead is high, and tends to be prominent. His eye is black, full of fire, quick and piercing. His nose has a little of the Roman about it, slightly arched and pointed. His mouth is perfect, and the smile, which during the conversation continually played upon it, was exceedingly agreeable, I must say fascinating. He has very little mustache or beard. His manner was peculiarly pleasant, gracious, and even polite, and his general expression, even when his features were at rest, was one of intelligence and benevolence. On the whole, the physiognomist would find no trace of the fierce passion save in the lightning glance of his eyes. I watched for the keen shot of light coming from them at times, and reflected upon what he could be capable of, but they did not strike me as treacherous eyes. I felt that he could act savagely under irritation. Theclouds500skycapybara (talk) 14:45, 22 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]