Lover's eyes: secret miniatures of Georgian England

Between the late eighteenth century and the first decades of the nineteenth, in England and then in other European countries, a jewel as refined as it was enigmatic became fashionable: a painted miniature showing only an eye. These objects, now known in English as lover's eyes, were mounted on brooches, rings and pendants and given to the beloved. Without the rest of the face, the portrait remained recognisable only to the recipient.

A forbidden love story

The origin of the fashion is usually linked to a famous episode. In 1785 the Prince of Wales, the future George IV, fell in love with Maria Fitzherbert, a Catholic widow. The Royal Marriages Act of 1772 required the king's consent for the marriages of members of the royal family, and a marriage to a Catholic would also have compromised the succession to the throne. The prince married her secretly all the same, but the union was never recognised as valid.

According to a widely told story, before the wedding the prince sent Maria Fitzherbert a miniature of his own eye, together with a passionate letter, and she responded with a similar gift. The miniaturist often named as its author is Richard Cosway, one of the most admired portraitists of the court. Some details of this story are uncertain, but it is clear that the taste for these miniatures spread in aristocratic circles in precisely those years.

A portrait that does not reveal

The fascination of these jewels lay in their discretion. A single eye, with no name or initials, allowed one to carry the image of the beloved without revealing their identity. In a society attentive to propriety, where many loves were clandestine or not approved by families, the miniature became a shared secret, comprehensible only to those who knew the gaze portrayed.

The miniatures were painted in watercolour on thin sheets of ivory, the typical technique of portrait miniatures of the period, and were framed with pearls, garnets, diamonds or enamel. Sometimes the eye was surrounded by painted clouds or tears, and on the back there might be a braided lock of hair. Every element of the setting contributed to the jewel's affectionate message.

Between love and mourning

Not all painted eyes were tokens of romantic love. Many were commissioned to remember distant or deceased relatives, and belong to the great tradition of commemorative jewellery, which in those years included rings and brooches with locks of hair and inscriptions. In these cases the painted tears beside the eye signified mourning rather than longing.

The fashion for lover's eyes lasted only a few decades and declined during the nineteenth century, partly with the spread of new portrait techniques. The examples that have come down to us are relatively rare and highly sought after by collectors. Some museums and private collections hold groups of them that allow one to appreciate the variety of gazes, colours and settings.

Born, according to tradition, of a forbidden love at the English court, lover's eyes are one of the most delicate examples of sentimental jewellery. They show how a fragment of a face can be enough to evoke an entire person, and how secrecy, in love, was long an integral part of the gift, as precious as the stone or gold of the setting.