Lover's Eyes: A History of Art and Romance
Lovers Eyes: A History of Art and Romance
By Emma Hapner, February 12, 2024
Fatima Ronquillo, Hand with Hummingbirds and Orchids, 2020, oil on panel
With my favorite holiday, Valentine’s Day, quickly approaching, many people have love on the mind. Whether it be romantic love, friendship, or self-love, what better way to celebrate than to take a look at how this paramount topic is expressed in painting throughout history.
Love has always been a significant theme in the canon of art history as well as in other forms of media including literature, like poems, novels, plays, and more modern media, like tv shows and movies. Love is a universal language that binds us all together and surmounts the passage of time. Maybe that’s why The Bachelor and Love Island are so popular.
Gustav Klimt, The Kiss, oil on canvas, 1907
One iconic and celebrated work depicting love in art is Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. This oil on canvas painting with Klimt’s archetypal use of gold leaf shows a couple locked in an embrace, allowing the viewers to glimpse an intimate moment of tender romance.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, In Bed, The Kiss, oil on cardboard, 1892
Another excellent example of a similar romantic moment is In Bed, The Kiss, by post-impressionist painter and designer, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. This oil on cardboard painting depicts two women passionately kissing, tucked under the covers, in a warm, loving scene. Although the two women were likely Parisian courtesans, the artist does not depict them erotically, for the viewer's pleasure. He instead created an intimate portrayal of women that he knew first -hand.
A Lover's Eye jewel, Artist unknown
An intriguing example of love being expressed through art are “Lover’s Eyes.” In 18th-century England, miniature eye paintings, also known as lover’s eyes, became a popular method for expressing devotion between loved ones. These precious miniatures were often worn as jewelry, the paintings set into broaches, rings, and pins.
Fatima Ronquillo, Hand with Pearls and Lovers’ Eyes, 2017, oil on panel
Contemporary artist, Fatima Ronquillo, includes lover’s eyes in her masterful paintings that have a dreamlike sense of surrealism combined with a detailed interest in art history.
Eye Miniature, early 19th century. Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
These tiny eye paintings could convey a world of feelings through a single glance; love, devotion, adoration, and longing. The compositional nature of only showing an eye, in such a small image, also allowed for a certain level of anonymity. It was difficult to identify the individual to which the eye belonged, making a Lover’s Eye the ideal gift to exchange between forbidden lovers, or those engaged in a torrid affair.
Blue enamel, diamond, and pearl broch (c.a. 1790). Courtesy of the Skier Collection.
With the emergence of photography in the 1830’s, the trend died out, but I think we should bring it back. What better way to soft-launch that new partner than with a mysterious jewelry piece that you can gaze at with longing?
Sources
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-mysterious-history-lovers-eye-jewelry
https://mymodernmet.com/love-in-art/
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-greatest-lovers-art-history
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/lovers-eye-jewel-history-2156398