Fanny Davenport, from the Actresses and Celebrities series (N60, Type 1) promoting Little Beauties Cigarettes for Allen & Ginter brand tobacco products 1887

This is a promotional card for Little Beauties Cigarettes featuring actress Fanny Davenport. Observe how Davenport's pose, captured in profile, evokes the classical tradition of portraiture. This deliberate echo of antiquity isn’t accidental. From Roman busts to Renaissance paintings, the profile has long signified nobility, intellect, and timeless beauty. Consider the way Renaissance artists, inspired by classical antiquity, revived the profile portrait to imbue their subjects with a sense of enduring significance. This card, though a humble commercial object, participates in a tradition stretching back millennia. The act of elevating a contemporary actress to the status of classical figure reveals something profound about our collective desire to immortalize beauty. Just as ancient sculptors sought to capture the essence of their subjects for eternity, this card attempts to preserve Davenport's image. A symbol of ephemeral beauty, to be lost with time.