Card Number 56, Mlle. Bucelle, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-6) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes
1880s
Medium
Albumen photograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 11/16 × 1 3/8 in. (6.8 × 3.5 cm)
Classification
Photographs|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
63.350.208.145.6.5
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Card Number 56,lle. Bucelle*, a charming albumen photograph from the Actors and Actresses series (145-6), issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. in 1880s to their Duke Cigarettes. This portrait (just 2 11/16 × 1 3/8 inches) captures the elegance of French actress Mlle. Buc, embodying the era's fascination with theater stars. Cigarette cards like this were collectible inserts tucked into tobacco packs, sparking a craze among enthusiasts who traded them like modern trading cards. Albumen prints, made by coating paper with egg whites and silve...
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...