Lute and Bass Viol, from the Musical Instruments series (N121) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 1/2 × 4 1/16 in. (6.4 × 10.3 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
63.350.206.121.12
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Lute and Bass Viol a charming chromolithograph from the1888 Musical Instruments seriesN121). Produced by W. Duke, & Co. in collaboration with Schumacher & Ettlinger to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco, petite print (just 2½ × 4⅛ inches) captures the elegance of lutes and bass viols, likely accompanied by graceful women, evoking Renaissance musical traditions amid Victorian nostalgia. Chromolithography, a pioneering color printing technique, allowed for the mass production of these eye-catching cards, inserted into cigarette packs to...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co.|Schumacher & Ettlinger · 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...