Victorian Children Christmas Greeting Card with Mistletoe

The girl's pink bows are absurdly oversized—the size of small livestock—which dominates the composition of this 1912 Frances Brundage masterpiece in boundary dissolution. The boy in his teal suit aggressively goes in for a cheek kiss while she shoots the viewer a look that can only be described as 'please send help.' The mistletoe hanging above them does all the legal work here, because without that sprig of festive shrubbery, this card would be Exhibit A in a very different kind of museum. The ornate 'A Merry Christmas' lettering floats above the chaos in cheerful denial, because nothing says 'peace on earth' like a toddler in black knee-high boots executing what appears to be a romantic ambush.