Re: I’m more intrigued...
Apparently, one of the first uses of photography in France was... government-approved images of an "artistic" subject (i.e. nude women), the said image - approved for sale - being called an "academie". Before photography, the approval system was for painters in the same line. With photography it got rather overloaded. This golden age was from about 1840-1855 according to Wikipedia Not Safe For Work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotic_photography which seem to be mainly citing a television documentary which I admit I remember quite well myself. Perhaps you do too.
So the stuff was official then.
Students of how technological progress is propelled may be pleased to note early adoption of stereography, the 19th century's virtual reality, if you will.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
