Valentine 1842 - 1875

Curator: This is a Valentine created anonymously between 1842 and 1875, now residing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It employs a mixed media approach, combining drawing, collage, and various printed materials on paper. Editor: My initial response is of quiet fragility. It seems delicate, ephemeral; the kind of object preserved carefully within the pages of a book. There is a fascinating interplay of textures and opacities in the layering, however rudimentary the composition may appear at first glance. Curator: Indeed. The layered elements—watercolors, printed texts, and even fragments of textiles—work together to construct a fairly complex symbolic narrative, with recurring motifs related to romantic love and sentimentality. Note the angel cradled in flower petals crowning the structure. The Victorians especially were adept at communicating emotions through symbols, and cards such as these offered the opportunity to transmit coded feelings. Editor: The dominant colour, or lack thereof, is interesting. It gives the entire artwork an ethereal, almost ghostly feel, like a faded memory or an idealised dream. Do you find the limited palette indicative of something about the emotional content? Curator: Perhaps restraint was perceived as inherently tasteful. The use of lace, a relatively expensive material at the time, communicates aspirations and elevated expectations about the relationship’s possibilities. Lace has, across the centuries, denoted affluence and craftsmanship and in the Victorian Era that symbolism became synonymous with ideal, bourgeois standards. The imagery is consistently referencing concepts of wealth, innocence, and an expectation for what the Victorians called 'refinement.' Editor: The layers suggest something buried or emerging. It evokes, through visual layering, the complex emotional negotiations undertaken when people connect in intimate ways. As with every act of courtship or lovemaking, the historical act of creating this mixed-media offering bears witness to that initial offering that often conceals a great deal of our own longing, need and our more authentic selves. Curator: Precisely. Looking at it now, I can see it is more than a decorative piece; it is an intimate artifact carrying both personal hopes and broader cultural expectations. Editor: I concur. Examining the textures and their construction has certainly given me insight into the emotional and performative dynamics involved.