Françoise Bornet, the woman pictured in a famous photograph of young lovers kissing that came to symbolize the romance of Paris, has died. She was 93. Bornet was just 20 years old when, in 1950, she and her then-boyfriend, Jacques Carteaud, were spotted at a cafe by French photographer Robert Doisneau, who asked if they would pose for him as part of a commission from Life magazine to illustrate love in Paris. The resulting photograph, “The Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville,” became a global phenomenon in the 1980s when it was republished as a poster. In 2005, Bornet sold a copy of the original photograph given to her by Doisneau at auction for more than $160,000. Doisneau died in 1994, and Carteaud passed away several years ago in France.
