Victorian Valentine Cherub & Dove Lithograph Greeting Card

The proportions here are wildly optimistic: a single bird somehow towing a floral barge piled high with hearts AND a chubby strumming cherub across what appears to be a perfectly calm lake at sunset. And then there's Cupid — inexplicably armed with a guitar instead of his signature arrows — sitting in a boat made entirely of forget-me-nots and serenading absolutely no one while the dove clutches the towing ribbon in its beak. The physics are aspirational at best, yet the greeting card asks you to find this romantic rather than deeply concerning, which says everything about Victorian courtship culture. Points for commitment to the bit, though — if you wanted to convey 'I love you,' a ribbon-clutching pigeon is obviously the move.