The Portrait ~ The Secret of the Haunted Lover's Eye ~

The year was 1786. King George IV had the artist Richard Cosway paint the eye of his secret lover, Maria Fitzherbert; only he and his inamorata knew the secret.

The Lover's Eye ❤  ~ A charming, whimsical and mysterious Love Token popularized by London High Society during the late 1700's

The exquisite and rare weird beauty of a unique Lover's Eye is truly only one of a kind  ❤

 The Lover's Eye became popular during the reign of King George IV when he commissioned an artist to depict a rendering of his secret lover's eye to wear in a locket secretly keeping her identity unknown.
Love, in many cases of marriage, was nonexistent and therefore affairs of the heart were conducted in obscurity and concealment from the public eye. To keep one's love a secret and close to their heart, they wore an affectionate reminder, in this case, the eyes of their paramour inside a secret locket.

Clandestine Lover's Eye Love Tokens were all the rage in the 18th and 19th century. And why not, they were the perfect secret love keepers. They were virtually impossible to ever give the secret identity of the lover away!

And so here is another one of my Lover's Eye I've made. The eye isn't really a secret anymore, it belongs to my mother. Because of my undying adoration for eyes, spiders, webs, Victorian Gothic Ghostly Tales, Edgar Allan Poe and black I dreamed up this Secret Lover's Eye, actually a Haunted Secret Lover's Eye.

The Lover's Eye, an elusive Antique Georgian Jewellery collectible dating back to the late 1700"s is not surprisingly a much-imitated piece of antiquarian jewelry of the few remaining originals in existence today. As with any coveted Treasure that is much sought after, the more the Charming, Whimsical and Mysterious it becomes to the passionate collector of Lover's Eyes. Their allure completely mesmerizes one into a Romantic Gothic Tale of their own making.

Who was she and why was this portrait left behind in the old mysterious mansion???

Flipping through the pages of a book on Antique Jewellery I learned about the Secret Lover's Eye.

To hold within one's grasp .......real love ❤

Maybe once upon a time she had a secret admirer, a lover who she had shared a real love with and her portrait was cherished and treasured by him always but then one day it was left behind,  here to fray and decay and be completely forgotten?

But she knew the secret.........

"I told my love,

 I told her all my heart,

 Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears ~

 Ah, she doth depart.

                                 ~ William Blake

 Note Bene "The Portrait " will be for sale on Etsy shortly