Card Number 84, Vernona Jarbeau, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-4) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes 1880s

This is an albumen silver print of Vernona Jarbeau, made by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes. Notice how Jarbeau, striking a pose, drapes a shawl around her shoulders. This very gesture, the draping of fabric, echoes through centuries of art history. We see it in classical sculptures of goddesses and Renaissance paintings of noblewomen. Each time, the fabric both conceals and reveals, suggesting modesty, status, and an almost theatrical presence. Consider, too, how this pose and garment, once symbols of grace and dignity, now adorn a cigarette card. Here, the act of draping becomes intertwined with the promotion of a fleeting pleasure, reflecting a shift in cultural values. The same gesture, laden with history, reappears in a new context, transformed by the modern world. And so it goes: the past is never truly gone but lives on, reshaped and reinterpreted in the images that surround us.