Card Number 162, Jennie Newton, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-5) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes 1880s

Here we see a promotional card for Duke's Cameo Cigarettes, featuring actress Jennie Newton, created by W. Duke, Sons & Co. around the turn of the century. The image's iconography is fascinating. Note how Newton perches jauntily on what appears to be a classical column—a direct link to antiquity. This motif echoes through art history, from depictions of muses to allegorical figures. Seated atop a column, Newton embodies a kind of elevated, timeless beauty, yet her playful demeanor injects modernity, bridging past and present. Consider, too, the column itself, often a symbol of strength, stability, and civilization. Its appearance here, repurposed as a mere prop, suggests a playful deconstruction of classical ideals within the burgeoning commercial culture. We see here a cultural memory and a subconscious desire to reach back to this past, as well as to re-contextualize these symbols in a world of progress and change.