1. Cupid on the Move
Works by Michelangelo Maestri, found on Gods and Foolish Grandeur.
2. The Romance of Paper “Cobwebs”
Among the many works on paper in The Met’s Department of Drawings and Prints is a large collection of historic Valentines from Europe and the United States. In paper form, these tokens of love are known from the 17th century onwards, and were either handmade or, from the mid-18th century on
3. The Secret Love Language of Stamp Placement
I came across this and it fascinated me! (Sucker for secret languages)…
Popularized by young couples in the Victorian period, stamps were once used to symbolize a number of romantic messages. From a heartfelt “I am always thinking of you” to a wishful “When are you coming to see me?”, many secret conversations were had thanks to stamps.
Read more about the secret language here or check out this fun video from NatGeo:
4. The Love Letters of America’s Gay First Lady
When Grover Cleveland took office in 1885, he was a nearly 50-year-old bachelor, a fact that almost derailed his campaign when rumors spread that he had fathered a child out of wedlock. (He had.) Protocol for unmarried or widowed presidents called for a female relative to fill the role of first lady. In stepped his sister, Rose.
Rose Cleveland served as First Lady for 14 months. Her great love was a woman called Evangeline Simpson.
“You are mine, and I am yours, and we are one, and our lives are one henceforth, please God, who can alone separate us. I am bold to say this, to pray & to live to it. Am I too bold, Eve — tell me? … I shall go to bed, Eve — with your letters under my pillow.”
Read the full article on the Washington Post.
5. One of the earliest cases of someone sending nudes
In 1828, a painter named Sarah Goodridge painted a miniature portrait of her own breasts and sent it to a man in what is probably one of the earliest cases of someone sending nudes. Goodridge completed Beauty Revealed in 1828, likely from looking at herself in a mirror. She gave the portrait to statesman Daniel Webster, who was a frequent subject and possibly a lover, following the death of his wife. Based on its miniature format, it was likely intended for his eyes alone. The American art critic John Updike suggests that the artist intended it to offer herself to Webster; he writes that the bared breasts appear to say “We are yours for the taking, in all our ivory loveliness, with our tenderly stippled nipples”. Although Webster later married someone else, his family held onto the portrait until the 1980s, when it was auctioned at Christie’s for $15,000 and acquired by Gloria and Richard Manney in 1981.
Found on Wikipedia.
6. Ruritanian romance, a genre of literature worth searching for
Ruritanian romance, a genre of literature, film etc, with stories set in a fictional country, usually in the Balkan, Central or Eastern Europe, used for example in ‘Prisoner of Zelda’, ‘Duck Soup’, ‘Pale fire’, ‘King in New York’, ‘Castle of Cagliostro’, ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’.
(These are the sort of factoids I’m into as a bookshop owner now).
Such stories are typically swashbuckling adventure novels, tales of high romance and intrigue, centered on the ruling classes, almost always aristocracy and royalty, although (for instance) Winston Churchill’s novel Savrola, in every other way a typical example of the genre, concerns a revolution to restore rightful parliamentary government in the republican country of Laurania. The themes of honor, loyalty and love predominate, and the works frequently feature the restoration of legitimate government after a period of usurpation or dictatorship.
Read more about the genre here.
7. The Little-Known Welsh Islands Dedicated to Love
Wales’ uninhabited Llanddwyn Island:
None of the hikers appeared to be aware of the beautiful coves to explore or the clusters of cormorants, shags and gulls that nested in the cliffs; they were here for something else entirely… According to legend, this treeless isle, forgotten for millennia, is where a 5th-Century heartbroken princess made thousands of love stories come true. And nowadays, those in need of salvation come in the hope they too can find romance, particularly on 25 January, the Welsh equivalent of Valentine’s Day.
More found on BBC travel.
8. “Married to the Eiffel Tower”, a documentary about women who fall in love with objects
Part two, part three, part four and part five.
9. Romance in the Catacombs
A couple locked in a kiss and a background of mummified corpses behind them in the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo. It’s called Amore e morte (Love and Death) painted by Calcedonio Reina in 1881. He is described as having a melancholic and neurasthenic temperament in life and art. Found on Wikipedia.
10. Brothel Candles
Popular in European brothels between 1880 and 1905 – used as a timer, once the wax is consumed, the session ends.
Found on Gleek.
11. A Romance Novel, written by Saddam Hussein
Zabibah and the King is an arabic romance novel, originally published anonymously in Iraq in 2000, that was written bySaddam Hussein (English edition of the novel, right).
The plot is a love story about a powerful ruler of medieval Iraq and a beautiful commoner girl named Zabibah. Zabibah’s husband is a cruel and unloving man who rapes her. The book is set in 7th or 8th century Tikrit, Hussein’s home town. Although the book is on the surface a romance novel, it is (and was intended to be read as) an allegory. The hero is Hussein and Zabibah represents the Iraqi people. The vicious husband is the United States and his rape of Zabibah represents the U.S. invasion of Iraq at the end of the Gulf War. The book was a best-seller in Iraq when it was originally published. It’s estimated that over one million copies were sold. Royalties, according to the back cover, were to go to “the poor, the orphans, the miserable, the needy, and [other] charities”. The Iraqi publishers appropriated four paintings of Canadian artist Jonathon Earl Bowser, to illustrate the novel, putting his “The Awakening” on the cover. Bowser did not authorize their use of his work and has attempted with no success to obtain compensation for copyright infringement.
Found on Wikipedia
12. The roller skating teens of 70s Florida
A new exhibition from photographer Bill Yates captures the rural romance and refuge of a Tampa roller rink.
Found on I-D.
