The painting originally advertised a 5-cent cigar. But the overlay was for a bank--pitching a savings account. The slogan reads: "The man who gets as much pleasure out of saving a dollar instead of spending it is a financier." More accurately, he's a saver.

And the bricked-up window at lower right suggests a tombstone. To quote economist John Maynard Keynes: "In the long run we are all dead."