Victorian Valentine's Day Greeting Card with Daisy Heart & Cherub

A modern viewer would immediately notice that Cupid — wings, ribbon, and all — casually leans against a wreath of daisies like he owns the place, gazing up at a framed oval portrait of a woman in an elaborate hat who is clearly too busy being a work of art to notice him. The card's own verse literally describes itself as 'A work of Art,' which is either charmingly self-aware or the most audacious marketing copy of the Edwardian era. The teal background and gold embossed framing give the whole enterprise the energy of a Renaissance painting that took a wrong turn at a drugstore rack, while the poem's breathless ask — 'may I ask of you to be my Valentine' — suggests Cupid drafted his confession with the help of a thesaurus and a lot of feelings.