Benjamin Gleadell, from the Sea Captains series (N127) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 3/16 × 2 7/16 in. (10.7 × 6.2 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
63.350.206.127.24
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American advertising with *Benjamin Gleadell, the Sea Captains seriesN127)*, a petite commercial color lithograph produced in 1887 by W. Duke, Sons & Co and printed by George S. Harris Sons. This tiny portrait (just 4 3/16 × 2 7/16 inches) was issued to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco part of a popular series featuring rugged sea captains—heroes of maritime lore—who embodied adventure and reliability in an era of expanding global trade. Chromolithography, the medium here, revolutionized mass printing by layering vibrant colors from multiple stones, ...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co.|George S. Harris & Sons · 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...