Portuguese Dancer, from the Dancing Women series (N186) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co.

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Portuguese Dancer*, a chromolithograph from the *ancing Women* series (186), issued by Wm. S. Kimball &. in 1889. Produced by the Rochester-based tobacco company, this petite print (just 2 11/16 × 1 7/16 inches) was likely distributed as a trade card or with Kimball's cigar packs, enticing collectors with its depiction of a graceful dancer in traditional Portuguese attire. Part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, it exemplifies the ephemera that turned everyday commerce into pocket-sized art. Chromolithography, the medium here, was a breakthrough technique of the era, allowing mass production of vivid, multi-colored images from stone plates—a far cry from earlier hand-colored prints. This commercial innovation democratized beauty, flooding Victorian parlors with affordable exotica amid America's growing consumer culture and obsession with global dance forms, from flamenco to ballet. Culturally, the series romanticizes women dancers, reflecting late-1800s fascinations with femininity, movement, and cultural "otherness." Tucked away in the Met's Drawings and Prints department, this tiny gem invites us to appreciate how tobacco marketing fueled a collecting craze, preserving snapshots of a graceful, bygone world.

About the Artist

William S. Kimball & Company · 1850–1950

**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...