Forget Me Not (valentine)
c. 1850
Medium
Lithograph with hand-coloring on cut and embossed ivory wove paper (lace, folded), with blue wove paper insert
Dimensions
Folded sheet: 19.6 × 12.4 cm (7 3/4 × 4 15/16 in.)
Classification
valentine
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
75705
Art Historical Context
### Forget Me Not (Valentine) Created around 1850 by British lithographer George Kershaw, *Forget Me Not (Valentine)* is a charming example of Victorian-era romantic ephemera from the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings collection. Measuring just 19.6 × 12.4 cm when folded, this delicate valentine unfolds to reveal intricate designs symbolizing enduring love—the forget-me-not flower, a Victorian emblem of fidelity and remembrance. Kershaw specialized in such sentimental cards, blending artistry with emerging print technologies to make romance accessible to the middle class. The me...
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...