Card Number 751, Margaret Mather, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-7) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes 1880s

This cigarette card, issued by Duke Sons & Co., features the actress Margaret Mather, her gaze lifted towards the heavens. Her diaphanous veil reminds us of classical depictions of ethereal figures, such as Botticelli’s Venus, reborn from the sea. But consider Mather's pose: one arm raised, seemingly beckoning. This gesture, familiar from religious art as "Adlocutio," a figure addressing a crowd, gains a secular twist. Where once it signified divine pronouncements, here it promotes earthly pleasures—cigarettes. This appropriation mirrors how ancient pagan symbols were assimilated into Christian iconography, transformed yet still echoing their primal origins. Such cyclical adaptation reveals our collective memory at play. Mather's image, initially designed to entice, now triggers deeper associations with timeless beauty and spiritual longing, subtly influencing our desires on a subconscious level. The symbol has resurfaced, evolved, and taken on new meanings.