Officer, 11th Royal Hussars, Great Britain, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

This image of a British Hussar Officer was printed by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company as a promotional item for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. Made using industrial printing processes, the card exemplifies the late 19th-century rise of mass advertising and consumer culture. The image is small, yet finely detailed, and produced with multiple layers of ink. The highly stylized rendering of the officer in full regalia captures the romanticism of military service. Yet it also directs the viewer's gaze to a commercial product. The card would have been one of many inserted into cigarette packs, incentivizing repeat purchases. These cards were decidedly not 'fine art,' yet we can see them as a fascinating example of everyday image-making. They are inextricably linked to the economics of tobacco, military display, and consumerism. Examining such objects helps us to consider the complex relationship between art, commerce, and popular culture.