Valentine 1881

This is a small Valentine designed by Kate Greenaway. Greenaway was one of the most successful illustrators of children’s books in Victorian England. But she also designed greetings cards, like this one, for the firm Marcus Ward & Co. Here, six young women from the late 18th or early 19th century are dressed in Empire-line dresses, bonnets and straw hats. They process across the card, carrying baskets of roses and a long garland, evoking the visual world of Jane Austen’s novels. However, it is important to remember that this idealized vision of the past came at a time of social and economic turmoil in England, when traditional social hierarchies were being challenged by industrialization and urbanization. Greenaway’s Valentine offers us a glimpse into the complex and often contradictory values of Victorian society and we can learn more about this era through the study of periodicals, literature, and other visual materials from the time.