Alphonse XIII, King of Spain, from the Rulers, Flags, and Coats of Arms series (N126-2) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 × 4 1/4 in. (7 × 10.8 cm) Sheet (folded): 2 3/4 × 1 7/16 in. (7 × 3.6 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick
Accession Number
63.350.206.126.89
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century ephemera with this charming commercial color lithograph from 1888, featuring Alphonse XIII, the young King of Spain. Produced by W. Duke, Sons & Co., a leading American tobacco firm, itails from the "Rulers, Flags, and Coats of Arms" (N126-2). At just 2¾ × 4¼ inches—foldable to an even daintier size—this pocket-sized portrait captures the toddler monarch (born 1886, reigning from infancy) amid regal symbols like flags and coats of arms, evoking European royalty's grandeur. Chromolithography, the era's breakthrough in mass-produced color printing, al...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co. · 1870–1920
**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...