Valentine with lace paper and faux pearls
ca. 1855
Medium
Cameo-embossed lace paper, chromolithographed die-cuts, faux pearls, blue satin, white satin ribbon, gold paper stars, graphite, ink, watercolor
Dimensions
Sheet: 9 1/8 × 7 7/8 in. (23.2 × 20 cm)
Classification
Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Gladys Norbury, 1957
Accession Number
57.565
Art Historical Context
Step into the heartfelt world of mid-19th-century romance *Valentine with lace paper and faux pearls crafted around 1855 by Esther Howland, often called the "Mother of American Valentine." Howland revolutionized greeting cards in Worcester, Massachusetts, by producing the first mass-marketed valentines in the U.S., inspired by English imports. This delicate ephemera, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints, captures the era's sentimental spirit, when Valentine's Day blossomed into a commercial sensation. The artwork dazzles with intricate techniques: cameo-embossed lace pa...
About the Artist
Esther Howland · 1828–1904
American, Worcester, Massachusetts 1828–1904 Quincy, Massachusetts