I Tell You Sincerely (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
75624
Art Historical Context
Step into the romantic world of Victorian sentiment with *I Tell You Sincerely (Valentine)*, a charming lithograph created around 1840 by British artist George Kershaw. Folded to a compact 22.5 × 18.7 cm, this piece from the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings collection exemplifies the era's burgeoning valentine tradition. Kershaw, a skilled lithographer, captured heartfelt declarations of love in a format that blended mass production with personal touch, making romance accessible to the middle class. Printed in brown ink on embossed ivory wove paper and enhanced with delicate han...
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...