Vintage Valentine Hot Air Balloon Cupid Heart Card

There's something unsettlingly serene about this scene—cupid, that curly-haired, white-winged cherub with the suspiciously calm demeanor of a child who has definitely done something wrong, pilots a wicker basket dangling beneath a heart-shaped hot air balloon the color of a very romantic tangerine, festooned with garlands of green leaves and tiny pink flowers like a Victorian float in the world's most airborne parade. Four oversized red hearts are strapped to the outside of the basket like luggage, because apparently one heart was not enough to communicate devotion and someone needed to make it weird. The balloon itself is emblazoned with 'With love from thy Valentine' in elegant cursive, lest you forget the theme mid-flight, while a second message floats nearby reading 'My devoted heart is thine, Thee I love, my Valentine'—which, combined with a winged infant steering an unmoored heart balloon through the clouds alone, suggests the Victorians had a very different definition of 'romantic' and also 'child supervision.'