Bridal Rose: Happy Love, from the series Floral Beauties and Language of Flowers (N75) for Duke brand cigarettes 1892

This is a promotional card titled "Bridal Rose: Happy Love," created for Duke brand cigarettes by the American Tobacco Company. The central motif here is the white rose, a symbol deeply rooted in the iconography of purity, virginity, and new beginnings. Its association with the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages as the "Mystic Rose" elevated it to a symbol of spiritual love and perfection. Observe how the bridal rose, in its full bloom, frames the young woman's face, suggesting a connection between her and these attributes. But the rose is not confined to this card alone. In Botticelli’s "Primavera," roses are scattered, symbolizing love and beauty, yet intertwined with a sense of ephemerality. Over time, the rose has shifted, its symbolism becoming complex. From ancient Greece, where it was linked to Aphrodite, goddess of love, to its more chaste, Marian interpretation, the rose engages our collective memory, evoking subconscious emotions tied to love, loss, and beauty. The image stirs in us a yearning for an idealized past, a potent emotional force reminding us of the cyclical nature of symbols, ever resurfacing, evolving, and taking on new meanings.