Swiss Guard, Vatican, Rome, Italy, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

This small chromolithograph was produced by Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company in the late 19th century as a promotional item for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. It depicts a Swiss Guard, a figure synonymous with the Vatican and its enduring power. These collectible cards reflect an era marked by burgeoning consumer culture and the use of exoticized imagery to market products. The Swiss Guard, with their striking Renaissance-style uniforms, became a symbol of tradition. This imagery reinforced notions of European strength and pageantry, even as those notions began to crumble under the pressures of industrialization and modernity. What’s interesting is how a company leverages a symbol associated with solemn duty and unwavering faith to sell cigarettes, a product often associated with personal indulgence. The card invites us to consider the complex ways in which cultural symbols are commodified and consumed, and how these images can evoke feelings of nostalgia, authority, and perhaps, even a longing for a simpler time.