Card Number 306, Irene Verona, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-5) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes 1880s

Curator: This is card number 306 from the Actors and Actresses series, featuring Irene Verona. It was created by W. Duke, Sons & Co. in the 1880s as a promotional item for Cameo Cigarettes. It’s currently held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Oh, what a find. She’s like a daydream. There’s this hazy sepia tone that makes you feel like you're peering into a forgotten time. And that fishing net, sort of draped casually – is she fishing for souls? Curator: It’s fascinating how these cards, originally commercial objects, became historical documents reflecting the commodification of beauty and the rising popularity of celebrity culture. The pose and attire also speak to evolving ideas around women and representation in that period. Editor: Absolutely! The bare legs juxtaposed with that dreamy look in her eyes is kind of intriguing. She’s almost inviting us into her world…but then, the cigarette branding jars you back to reality, right? Makes you think about how images are used to sell a lifestyle, or even a fantasy. I wonder what she was paid… or maybe if she knew that over a century later, we’d still be examining this small artifact. It all comes back to intersectionality. Curator: Precisely. And even beyond issues of labor and consumption, the image plays into the then current theatrical zeitgeist. It also presents ideas of physical and psychological power held and displayed in different ways by both women and performance. This challenges our ideas of Victorian rigidity. Editor: It does make you pause, doesn’t it? Beauty, commerce, theatre, time travel, nets. You just never know what to think and what will be on the other side. So good. Curator: A succinct summation. These promotional cards, ephemeral as they seem, provide a surprising glimpse into the complex social fabric of the late 19th century.