Card Number 56, Mlle. Bucelle, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-6) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes

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 silver salts, delivered the sharp, luminous detail that made these ephemera so appealing. As commercial photography, it bridged fine art portraiture and mass marketing, highlighting women's rising visibility in entertainment during the Gilded Age. Duke's series celebrated performers, turning everyday smokes into cultural keepsakes. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, this card is part of The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, a treasure trove of American ephemera gifted in 1948. It reminds us how advertising wove art, celebrity, and commerce into the fabric of daily life.

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...