From the Actresses and Celebrities series (N60, Type 1) promoting Little Beauties Cigarettes for Allen & Ginter brand tobacco products 1887

This small card, part of Allen & Ginter’s series promoting 'Little Beauties' Cigarettes, depicts an actress with a child. The embrace—a universal symbol of comfort—appears in countless depictions of the Madonna and Child throughout Renaissance art, representing maternal love and protection. Here, the gesture is repurposed, linking the actress's charm to notions of motherhood to market tobacco products. This is a striking transformation, from sacred iconography to commercial use, mirroring the societal shifts of the time. The emotional power of the embrace remains potent, evoking a sense of nostalgia and warmth that transcends its new commercial context. Like an ancient echo, these motifs reemerge, transformed by the needs and desires of each new era. The image, therefore, becomes a lens through which we see the cyclical nature of symbols, their endurance, and their capacity for reinvention.