It was previously considered to be in the public domain because it is a scan (or similar) by the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, but not everything scanned by the BNF is automatically in the public domain.
It is possible that this file is in the public domain for other reasons, for example because it was published a long time ago (anything before ca. 1900 is most likely ok) or because its author / artist / photographer died over 70 years ago and it was published over 95 years ago. In such cases, a new rationale should be applied, and a different license tag (see Commons:Licensing and valid license tags at Commons:Copyright tags) should be used.
If the file is not found to be in the public domain, it might be nominated for deletion (NOT by any automatic process, but manually).
See below for the previous rationale (not applicable anymore).
Previous public domain rationale, no longer applicable
This image is in the public domain because it is a mere mechanical scan or photocopy of a public domain original, or – from the available evidence – is so similar to such a scan or photocopy that no copyright protection can be expected to arise. The original itself is in the public domain in its source country for the following reason:
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
Public domain
The copyright of this image has expired in the European Union because it was published more than 70 years ago without a public claim of authorship (anonymous or pseudonymous), and no subsequent claim of authorship was made in the 70 years following its first publication.
EU
To use this template, the image must meet both of the following two conditions:
published over 70 years ago, and
the original author's actual identity was not publicly disclosed in connection with this image within 70 years following its publication.
Images that lack either of these two conditions should not use this template.
Reasonable evidence must be presented that the author's name (e.g., the original photographer, portrait painter) was not published with a claim of copyright in conjunction with the image within 70 years of its original publication. Works which had not entered Public Domain in their country in 1996 that were uploaded before 1 March 2012 should be marked additionally with {{Not-PD-US-URAA}}.
Note: In some countries anonymous works are copyrighted until 70 years after the death of the author if the author's identity became public in any way during the original term. In Germany this applies to certain works published before July 1, 1995; see Übergangsrecht.
The original itself is in the public domain in the United States for the following reason:
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
This work was published before January 1, 1923 and it is anonymous or pseudonymous due to unknown authorship. It is in the public domain in the United States as well as countries and areas where the copyright terms of anonymous or pseudonymous works are 101 years or fewer since publication.
This tag is designed for use where there may be a need to assert that any enhancements (eg brightness, contrast, colour-matching, sharpening) are in themselves insufficiently creative to generate a new copyright. It can be used where it is unknown whether any enhancements have been made, as well as when the enhancements are clear but insufficient. For known raw unenhanced scans you can use an appropriate {{PD-old}} tag instead. For usage, see Commons:When to use the PD-scan tag.
Note: This tag applies to scans and photocopies only. For photographs of public domain originals taken from afar, {{PD-Art}} may be applicable. See Commons:When to use the PD-Art tag.
