Card 45, Urania Rhipheus, from the Butterflies series (N183) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. 1888

Card 45, Urania Rhipheus, a chromolithograph, was part of the Butterflies series distributed by the Wm. S. Kimball & Co., a tobacco company. These cards, a form of early advertising, reflect the Victorian era's fascination with natural sciences, combined with an idealization of femininity. This card features a woman with butterfly wings. Here, the female form is merged with the natural world, reminiscent of mythological figures and fairy tales that often served to both empower and constrain women within specific cultural narratives. There is an emotional ambivalence that comes with this piece. Is this woman becoming an exotic creature, or is she being reduced to one? The act of associating women with delicate, aesthetic qualities, as seen here, served to reinforce societal expectations of women as objects of beauty and fragility, which obscured the complex realities of women's lives. This card reminds us to consider the nuanced ways in which images shape our understanding of identity and the world around us.