Victorian St. Valentine's Day Greeting Card with Child, Instrument & Kitten

The fact that this devoted Valentine is expressed entirely through an iron grip on a mandolin rather than, say, words or eye contact, sets an odd tone from the start. A curly-haired Victorian child in a red dress and white apron has chosen to demonstrate her romantic devotion by clutching the stringed instrument like it owes her money, one leg kicked up mid-skip as if she's fleeing a crime scene set to music. A white kitten peers over the instrument's body with the dead-eyed calm of a creature who has seen things. The poem reads 'My devoted heart is thine, Thee I love, my Valentine,' which is sweet enough—except the only recipient of any visible devotion here is the mandolin. The giant white heart framing this chaos against the red background is doing its absolute best to make it feel romantic.