Clara St. Maur, from the Actresses series (N245) issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1890

This small promotional card by Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company features the actress Clara St. Maur. We see her posed artfully beside a tree, one hand resting on its trunk. The tree, a ubiquitous symbol, anchors this image and connects it to a lineage of arboreal symbolism. Throughout art history, the tree is a prominent feature. It signifies growth, life, and the connection between the earthly and the divine. Consider the Tree of Knowledge in biblical art, or the World Tree in Norse mythology. Here, the tree provides a backdrop for St. Maur, embedding her within a broader cultural narrative of nature. This is more than a portrait; it’s an invocation of timeless themes of connection, growth, and the enduring power of nature reflected in the human spirit. Like all symbols, the image of Clara leaning againist the tree has cyclical progression.