Card Number 83, Lydia Thompson, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-4) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes 1880s

This is a promotional card of Lydia Thompson from the Actors and Actresses series, printed by W. Duke, Sons & Co. around the turn of the century. Thompson is adorned with flowers, a motif as old as time, representing beauty, but also the ephemeral nature of life. Consider Botticelli's "Primavera," where Flora scatters blossoms, or the garlanded figures in Roman festivals; flowers signal renewal, youth, and celebration. Yet, even in their vibrancy, they carry an undercurrent of "memento mori", reminding us of life's fleeting beauty. Here, the flowers could allude to Thompson’s stage presence as a flower that blooms briefly for an audience. Through the collective unconscious, we recognize this symbolic gesture, a reminder of the transient nature of performance. Her image, printed on a cigarette card, becomes a curious relic, a token of fleeting fame preserved in mass culture.