Believe My Love These Lines Are True (valentine)
1840/50
Medium
Collaged elements and watercolor, with pen and ink on embossed ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Folded sheet: 22.8 × 19.1 cm (9 × 7 9/16 in.)
Classification
valentine
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
75908
Art Historical Context
Step into the romantic world of Victorian courtship with *Believe My Love These Lines True*, a charming valentine crafted by George Kershaw around 1840–1850. This folded sheet, measuring a intimate 22.8 × 19.1 cm, captures the era's fervor for sentimental expressions of love, when handmade cards like this one were treasured tokens exchanged on February 14th. Kershaw's artistry shines through innovative mixed media: collaged elements layered with watercolor, pen, and ink on luxurious embossed ivory wove paper. The embossing creates a tactile, three-dimensional surface, mimicking lace or fine t...
About the Artist
George Kershaw
George Kershaw is an artist whose works have been preserved in museum collections in meaningful quantity, pointing to a genuine career and a recognized body of output, even though the biographical details that would identify his nationality, training, and active period have not been established in the sources currently available. The absence of nationality information alongside the absence of date...