I discovered an interesting concept online the other day known as "Art Cards." Here is a quick summary about them, which I have taken from the website, http://www.art-cards.org/:
The History of ATC's
Art Cards have a very long and very interesting history.
Art cards or miniatures where the rage in the 16th century. They were mostly portraits and they were sold, not traded or given away. They were the first wallet "photos". Men would have nudes painted of their mistresses on art cards (without their wives knowing)--usually by the same artist that would do the big family portraits of their wives. Miniature Portraits would be used for exchange when rich people arranged marriages. In fact, this caused a big problem for poor Henry the Eighth, when the artist who painted his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, took a little too much "artistic license". Poor Anne was not up to standard and Henry divorced her.
Art cards or miniatures where the rage in the 16th century. They were mostly portraits and they were sold, not traded or given away. They were the first wallet "photos". Men would have nudes painted of their mistresses on art cards (without their wives knowing)--usually by the same artist that would do the big family portraits of their wives. Miniature Portraits would be used for exchange when rich people arranged marriages. In fact, this caused a big problem for poor Henry the Eighth, when the artist who painted his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, took a little too much "artistic license". Poor Anne was not up to standard and Henry divorced her.
The French artists were the first to come up with advertisement on the art cards. It wasn't until the mid-1700's that the English picked up on the idea of using the Art cards for advertising. The Art Cards of Europe are slightly larger than ours as is their standard deck of playing cards is much larger than ours.
During the Impressionist Age artists traded art cards among themselves to study each other's style and techniques. They also traded or sold the art cards as necessary for supplies, food, and lodging.
In 1887 "baseball" cards started to appear. These early cards are now very rare and it is uncertain what they were made of. They were not mass produced. During the period 1902 - 1935 baseball was in its golden years. Cards during this time were usually sold with bubble gum, chewing tobacco and cracker jacks. As they were marketed with different size products, baseball cards were different sizes and it was not until the 1960s that the modern 2.5 x 3.5 size was standardized.
Today there is a resurgence of hand made art cards for sale and trade. Happy Collecting!!!
The image above is approximately the original size, though the original is slightly larger. Makes a great little painting for your pocket!
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