Victorian Valentine Cupid Heart Chromolithograph Greeting Card

The most bewildering detail here is the absolutely massive, structurally compromised heart actively melting over an open flame while Cupid, armed with a bow and tray of smoldering implements, gazes up at the cardiac inferno completely unfazed. Festive bows and roses hang cheerfully from a banner above, utterly unbothered by the ongoing conflagration, while the whole tableau is framed with the kind of pastoral softness usually reserved for springtime frolics, not for watching the literal symbol of love dissolve into a puddle of scorched sentimentality. 'To My Valentine,' it reads, which is Victorian for 'I have set my feelings on fire and I want you to watch.' Truly the 'we need to talk' of greeting cards.