Valentine 1874

Kate Greenaway designed this Valentine card, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with a combination of printed illustration and intricate paper lace, reflecting the aesthetic values of her time. The central image presents a boy bearing a large heart against a backdrop of stylized flora and fauna. The composition is carefully structured; the boy is positioned in the foreground, leading the eye through the idyllic landscape. Greenaway uses a muted palette, emphasizing pastel tones that evoke a sense of nostalgia and romanticism. The flatness of the picture plane reminds us of the influence of Japanese prints on Western art. The semiotic interplay between the heart symbol, the youthful figure, and the natural setting suggests themes of innocence and affection. The paper lace border complicates this reading. It challenges the preciousness of the Valentine card by disrupting traditional notions of sentimentality, offering a complex statement on desire, representation, and the commercialization of emotion.