Tobacco label with girl clad in white, flying through colorful sky on large bat.
This colorful public domain tobacco label comes from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. The subject is Ariel, who is portrayed as a beautiful maiden with long flowing blond hair and a garland of flowers around her waist. She is clad in a wind-swept sheer white dress and is riding on an obscenely large bat.
It is likely that the Ariel portrayed in this image is taken from William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, in which Ariel is an airy sprite who serves the magician Prospero. In Shakespeare’s manuscript, Ariel is a male figure, but during the nineteenth century, the role was primarily played by women.
This advertisement was published in 1869. Because of this pre-1923 publication date this image is in the public domain.
4 megabyte TIFF. Hosted at the Library of Congress.
User Descriptions
03.19.10
GODDESS AND THE DEVIL:
The picture is like a Goddess and the devil in a single frame.Why I am telling it as devil is because in India the bat is considered to live where there is no humans live but the demons. The Ariel looks very beautiful as a contest winner or an beauty award winner, having a beautiful garland of flowers around her hip which is also fantastically placed. The hair of the Ariel is golden brown shining and swinging in the air and the dress is like an angel from the heaven.Having a rod in her left had showing some symbol and the chariot rope which is tied along the nostril of the bat.The bat is huge like a falcon bird and flies over a river. The wings of the bat is very gentle in the hands of the Ariel or else, normally the wings of the bat is very rude and it makes a loud noise when it is tapped in air. The mild smile from the lips of the Ariel is very graceful and quite attractive. The beats in her neck adds more beauty to her and this is how the real angel looks and attracts the human towards them. The beauty never ends and it is pleasure for us to see it always.
03.22.10
The beauty of this advertisement which was published in 1869 is the color blend of the clouds. The sun rise or sun set is apparent and one would like to choose the sun set. That process created the full colors of the picture different. The clouds have the similarity of color of that of the island too. Princess Ariel is an unreal character, a mermaid, and the protagonist of Disney’s 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid. The character was based on the protagonist of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” story, but was developed into a different personality for the 1989 animated film adaptation. Her dissimilar appearance consists of long golden hair, beautiful eyes and saffron colored cheeks. Bat is termed as a nocturnal. There are two chords to control the bat by Aries. These are the right and wrong. The weapon rests on the left wing of the creature. This is the will for triumph. The picture also symbolizes the desire for the victory of truth. The ultimate success rests on the honesty. It has no need of an eye for navigation in the darkness. The Truth comes to you to set freedom, even when you are kept in the shadows of the detention.