Dear Girl, Thy Hand (valentine)
c. 1840
Medium
Lithograph in brown ink with hand-coloring on embossed ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Folded sheet: 22.5 × 18.7 cm (8 7/8 × 7 3/8 in.)
Classification
valentine
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
75625
Art Historical Context
In the romantic haze of the early Victorian era, George Kershaw crafted *Dear Girl, Thy Hand (valentine)* around 1840, a charming lithograph that captures the sentimental spirit of courtship. This folded sheet, measuring 22.5 × 18.7 cm, invites admirers to woo with tender verse and imagery, reflecting the growing popularity of mass-produced yet personalized valentines in 19th-century Britain and America. Exchanged on February 14th, these cards blossomed into a cultural phenomenon, blending poetry, flowers, and hearts to express affections too shy for spoken words. Kershaw's technique shines 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...