This 1871 tobacco ad for the Pearl Tobacco brand is proof that sexual imagery is not only a modern phenomenon. Of course images like these were paintings and looked rather like works of art, however the use of an image of a supposedly undressing woman was the advertiser’s marketing intention. The use of sea in the painting I think evokes an image of a sailor, which would also be quite appealing to the male audience. Also the smoke and sunset suggest very strongly romance and passion.
Other References:
Sex in Advertising 