Card 439, Maud Branscombe, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 1) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

This is a promotional card for Virginia Brights Cigarettes, featuring actress Maud Branscombe. Note her upward gaze, a motif laden with historical and psychological significance. The upward gaze is not merely a direction of sight; it is a potent symbol that has traversed centuries and cultures. In religious art, consider the depictions of saints in ecstasy, eyes lifted toward the heavens, conveying spiritual transcendence. This motif taps into our collective memory, resonating with a sense of yearning and the pursuit of something beyond our immediate grasp. The gaze holds an emotional charge, inviting viewers to contemplate the ethereal and the intangible. It’s a visual echo of humanity's enduring quest for meaning, now, curiously, attached to the sale of cigarettes. Such a juxtaposition serves to further emphasize the emotional power embedded in visual symbols and how these are constantly being reborn.