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Valentine card
Publisher: Unknown
Comic valentine; A hand-coloured woodcut of a female figure printed onto a large single sheet of thin wove paper. A grotesque female character is depicted who wears fashionable dress of the 1830s, the components of which have been grossly exaggerated even by the standards of the 1830s; An enormous, high-brimmed bonnet which is decorated with a large clutch of brightly-coloured feathers and flowers on the left side, balloon-like sleeves and a multi-frilled skirt. The mouth of the woman is open wide in a gaping, rictus grin with sharp, pointed teeth visible at the top like those of a snake. The woman's large nose and cheeks are coloured a lurid crimson. A printed verse in sloping script above and below: "That horrid face of yours Miss Prim / The Devil well might stare, / And yet, while grinning just like him, / You fancy you are fair, / O ancient maid, abhorr'd and stale, / How e'er dressed in the mode. / Connubial joys shall ever fail / To cheer thy curst abode." A faint graphite drawing copying the outline of the figure, which has been mostly erased, is visible at centre right. This appears to be of a later date. Inscriptions in graphite at upper left: "14 / 1/6" [1/6 denotes the price of 1 shilling and sixpence]. Copying was commonly practised as a method of art instruction for children. Children were also recipients of comic valentines and companies like Rimmel designed series' of comic valentines specifically for children. See advertisement for Rimmel's 'Our Gents and Misses (Satirical)' below the list of valentines produced for children: https://johnjohnsoncollectionnowandthen.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/johnson10-can-0004-0.jpg. The John Johnson Collection at the Bodleian Library, Oxford contains a very large collection of valentines and related valentines material. A wood engraving published in the _Illustrated Times_ in 1871 shows a group of children looking at valentine cards they have just received. An older boy studies what is clearly a caricature of a male figure with a large head, unkempt hair and scrawny neck. See catalogue of valentine cards sale at Christie's South Kensington, 10 February 1995, lot 45, illustrated p. 11. It seems likely that humorous caricatures like this one could have been used to capture the imaginations of children during copying exercises. See, for example Edward VII's copy of his instructor Edward Corbould's comic drawing of a soldier, reproduced in, Leah Kharibian, _Passionate Patrons, Victoria & Albert and the Arts_, Royal Collection Enterprises Ltd, London, 2010, p. 173.
Bequeathed by Dr J. W. L. Glaisher, 1928
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
19th Century
Production date:
circa
AD 1830
Accession number: P.14345-R-2
Primary reference Number: 214287
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Paintings, Drawings and Prints
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Valentine card" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/214287 Accessed: 2024-12-19 12:15:20
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/214287
|title=Valentine card
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-19 12:15:20|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-214287
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp77/P_14345_R_2_1_201701_amt49_dc2.jpg"
alt="Valentine card"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Valentine card</figcaption>
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