Through artist Victoria Carlin, the tradition of painting lover’s eyes survives in the 21st century. Recently, guest blogger Jo Manning did a series of posts on lover’s eyes for us and explained their history and the story behind these cherished keepsakes. Today, the cost of purchasing these antique eyes is astronomical, but through Victoria’s brush, you can now have a portrait done of your own, or your lover’s, eye at an affordable price, thus the tradition endures.
Victoria studied at the School for Visual Arts and the Student’s Art League of New York. Additionally, she studied at Jerusalem’s Betzalel Academy of Art. Victoria eads painting workshops in Italy, England, Canada and the United States. Victoria’s talents and reputation as a serious fine artist has brought her numerous and prestigious commissions for portraits of both private and public figures. Victoria’s work hangs locally as well as internationally in Israel, Ireland and Ecuador.
After much success in the world of fine art, Victoria has now followed her passion – blending her superb talent with a rich heritage of romanticism – making her exquisite pieces available to everyone, as the perfect gift for that special loved one.
As Victoria recently explained –
“I first became aware of lover’s eye when I saw one in either France or England. I fell instantly in love. I have worked as a commissioned portrait artist for the past 17 years. My goal as a fine artist is to communicate on a two dimensional canvas not only how that person looks, but who they are, the visual essence of the person. I found that if one were able to paint the feeling of the eyes in the portrait, then the commission was a success… that the soul, that life spark was in the painting of the eye.
“In today’s modern world, people no longer commission an artist to paint a portrait of their love ones. Once one is exposed to the world of honoring, remembering and showing love through portraiture, most people would love to have one. Sadly for many the cost is beyond their budget.
“This made me realize that a relatively small amount of money, which would otherwise be spent on gifts such as flowers, lingerie or jewelery, one could commission an artist create a fine art painting of that person’s eye – a lover’s eye.”
Victoria knows how much a lover’s eye can mean to someone as a momento because she has a very special story of her own regarding these keepsakes –
“My fiance and I had been high school sweethearts who parted and went on to create big lives with children and careers. Then, the stars re-aligned and we discovered that we were both single again. I had been dating someone else and was about to send him my own lover’s eye when Ron stepped back into my life and I just knew then that the other guy was not meant to receive this keepsake. It became very personal, as though I were sending a part of me. . . Ron was so touched by my lover’s eye its now on his desk front center and is, he says, one of his most precious things.”
Victoria has been commissioned to paint several children’s eyes and her eyes have become popular as wedding day gifts. You can find more examples of Victoria’s work and read more about her at her website,
My Lover’s Eye.
What a terrific idea!!!!
Would be interesting to see if this catches on. It was such a hot trend for a few decades, then abruptly died out. I heard stories of heirs discarding them as they thought them unattractive. The value of these 18th-century keepsakes has been soaring, so, check those chests in your granny's attic, ladies!