Valentine 1880

This Valentine was made by Kate Greenaway, and most likely printed using wood engraving, perhaps with some hand-coloring or stenciling. It's a low, and delicate form of mass production, more like printmaking than industrial manufacture. The print quality is integral to the Valentine’s charm, with its slightly fuzzy, textured surfaces and limited tonal range. Wood engraving allowed for relatively fine detail, but still feels handmade. It is the aesthetic of Arts and Crafts, and the broader “artistic” printing movement. Here the labor is legible, a deliberate contrast to slick commercial imagery. The soft, peach-colored background hints at the romance of the scene, depicting classical maidens, a world of idealized femininity. These historical allusions and the carefully wrought process situate this card in the more refined reaches of the Victorian marketplace. By emphasizing materials and making, we can appreciate how this small card speaks to a pivotal moment in the history of image production. Greenaway elevates a commercial Valentine into something lovely, with social and cultural significance.