Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Here is a final Valentine’s Day image for you, of a simple cascade of black and white hearts! Hope you enjoy the day with your sweetie!

Enjoy,

Peace,

Bekka

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Here is a passionate painting by a relatively unknown Czech artist named Maximilian Pirner. To find a biography of him I had to use google to translate a German site about him.

Pirner studied at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts and eventually was made a Professor there in 1896. He was relatively unknown even in his own lifetime, as his work was not particularly popular with the public at large. What little I’ve found of his work I found on Wikipedia Commons or the German site mentioned above. However, many Czech artists that later came to fame studied under him during his professorship.

Click on the image to see it/download it fulll-sized.

Peace,
Bekka

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Here is another romantic painting by the English painter Frank Bernard Dicksee. Though not a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, his style is very much in keeping with that movement. Wikipedia has a short biographic article about him that you can read if you wish.

This painting is called ‘The End of the Quest’ and shows a medieval nobleman kneeling before his lady. He has a sword but also wears the hat of a pilgrim.

Click to see or to download it full-sized.

Peace,
Bekka

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To continue the Valentine theme, here is an unusual image from a medieval manuscript. It is the score of a ‘Chanson’ [a type of song] formed into the shape of a heart by the anonymous calligrapher of the Chantilly Manuscript. I think it would make a lovely card. I found it on Wikipedia Commons. Click to see it/download it full sized.

Peace,
Bekka

Tags: .jpg, calligraphy, color, daily public domain, DPD, free, graphics, heart, holiday, image, line drawing, love, manuscript, medieval, music, PD, public domain, song, valentine, Valentine's Day, Wiki Commons, Wikipedia

Here is a playing card from a Victorian deck. It’s the five of hearts and I love the different figures that make it up, though I am not sure who or what the bottom right corner is supposed to be. I especially like the lady in the center. I think it could be used as a whole image or the different parts could be used individually. I found it on Wikipedia Commons, and this is it’s full-size.

Peace,
Bekka

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Here is a nice heart. It’s a transparent .png so you can print it out on any paper you want to make a card or other artwork. It would also make a good stencil. I think if you enlarged it and put it on a t-shirt, that would be very very cool. I found this on Wikipedia Commons.

Peace and love,
Bekka

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Proper Victorian ladies did not ask men to marry them. They simply waited and hoped. But popular belief held that in a leap year, on on February 29, it was acceptable for a lady to ask a gentleman to marry her. Hence this ‘Leap Year Valentine’ which shows a lady chasing a rather reluctant gentleman through the numerals ’1904′. [Yes, I know this year is not a leap year, but the graphic is so fun I decided to include it rather than wait two years!] Moreover, in 1904, the proper Victorian ladies hadn’t had a chance to turn the tables for eight years – because 1900 was not a leap year!

Click on it to see it/download it full-sized. This image is from the Library of Congress digital collections.

Peace,
Bekka

Tags: .jpg, 1904, color, daily public domain, DPD, free, graphics, holiday, humor, image, lady, Leap Year, Library of Congress, LOC, love, man, PD, postcard, public domain, valentine, Valentine's Day, Victorian, woman

At the turn of the 20th century, it was not uncommon for lithographers who made theater posters to design ones that needed only the name of the performance added. Others simply advertised, in a general way, the name of a theater company. This one possibly fell into the latter category. In either case, it doesn’t have a play or opera title on it – just the name of the theater company: “The Great Gotham Stock Co.”

But, I chose it because we are heading towards Valentine’s Day (one more week!) and ladies flirting with gentlemen seemed very much in keeping with that theme. The lady in the middle is even appropriately dressed in red!

This image comes from the Library of Congress digital collections. Click on it to see it/download it full-sized.

Peace,

Bekka

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Here is a fun image if your love is distant this Valentine’s Day: A heart-shaped map of the world. It was drawn in 1556. Why is it in a heart-shape? I don’t know. But it sure is fun! Click on the image to see it/download it full-sized.

Peace,

Bekka

Tags: .jpg, 1556, color, daily public domain, DPD, free, graphics, holiday, illustration, image, love, manuscript, map, medieval, PD, public domain, Renaissance, valentine, Valentine's Day, Wiki Commons, Wikipedia, world