Venus, Goddess of Beauty, from the Goddesses of the Greeks and Romans series (N188) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co.
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (7 × 3.8 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
63.350.216.188.4
Tags
Art Historical Context
This charming 1889 color lithograph depicts Venus, the Roman goddess of beauty and love, as part of the “Goddesses of the Greeks and Romans” series issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co., a prominent tobacco manufacturer. Printed by the Ketterlinus Lithography Company, the card measures just 2¾ by 1½ inches—typical of the miniature trade cards that companies tucked into cigarette packs to encourage brand loyalty and collecting. Such commercial prints brought classical mythology into everyday life during the late nineteenth century. Bright, affordable lithography allowed manufacturers to reproduce ele...
About the Artist
William S. Kimball & Company|Ketterlinus Lithography Company
**William S. Kimball & Company**, a pioneering American tobacco manufacturer, was established in 1846 in Rochester, New York, by William S. Kimball and James C. Hart. The firm quickly grew into one of the city's largest employers, particularly of women, producing popular brands like Peerless chewing tobacco, Rigatta and Fireside smoking tobacco, and Vanity Fair cigarettes. Under Kimball's leadersh...