From the late 1700s to the early 1800s, a truly odd craft became incredibly popular among the wealthy classes. Called "Lover's eyes," these odd crafts were miniature paintings of eyes, many of which were worked into jewelry such as brooches, rings, and lockets.
Dubbed "the mood ring of their day," this fad had its roots in a royal scandal. In the 1780s the Prince of Wales (who later became George IV) fell in love with a commoner. Maria Fitzherbert had not just been married and widowed twice; she was also Catholic.
Despite the royal family's disapproval, they were secretly and illegally wed. (According to law, the king had to consent to their marriage, and he never would have agreed.) They commemorated their love for each other by commissioning tiny portraits of each other's eyes, which they wore as "discreet and intimate tokens of affection."
When the story leaked, suddenly everyone wanted to have a tiny portrait of their beloved's eyeball. It became all the rage to walk around wearing a tiny eyeball painting, as if that was a totally normal thing to do.
These lover's tokens were so clandestine and mysterious that even today, the identities of many of them have not been identified. (I personally suspect that a lot of them were the eyes of same-sex lovers. The miniature eye painting, stripped of any gender cues, would have been one of the few safe ways for gays and lesbians to quietly celebrate their love in public.)
The fad faded, and today is almost entirely forgotten. An ophthalmic surgeon stumbled across an eye miniature at an antique store, was smitten by the art, and went on to amass one of the world's largest collections of Lover's eyes. The exhibition toured in 2012 to much acclaim. I first learned about this strange historical curiosity when I came across this wonderful embroidery project by Craftster user Ludi. Long live the Lover's eyes!
Image courtesy Craftster/Ludi
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