Amid fleeing England, Maria Fitzherbert opened a gift from her forbidden royal lover – later known as George IV – to find a hand-painted miniature of his eye. Given that the love affair of a twice-widowed Roman Catholic and a future King was not a marriage written in the Georgian stars, it’s believed that the eye was an attempt to win Maria back. It was a representation of his longing, his gaze – quite literally – for her and perhaps most importantly a symbol of hope. And given that the two were secretly married later in London, there was good reason for hope. What followed, however, was admittedly slightly less hopeful, an ill-fated relationship, yet Maria kept the ‘eye miniature’, a style that came to be known as the Lover’s Eye. This romantic tale has become the Eye’s dominant origin story, but there is reason to believe it first emerged a few years prior at the hands of a French painter. Despite its very possible birth in France, the Lover’s Eye, often elaborately bejewelled or framed with pearls, had a popularity in Georgian society which few jewellery pieces managed to parallel.

“While all forms of sentimental jewellery undoubtedly carry meaning, there are arguably fewer more intimate styles than the Lover’s Eye”

For Grootenboer, the Lover’s Eye symbolises “the look that someone wants to imagine, and wants to feel as resting upon themselves” – the very embodiment of the Georgians’ obsession with seeing and being seen. This fascination is understandable, during a time when communication between opposite sexes was restricted by the social rules of courtship, a simple glance was meaningful. The Lover’s Eye was a broader part of sentimental jewellery, jewellery with soul, which was well-received by Georgians. While all forms of sentimental jewellery undoubtedly carry meaning, there are arguably fewer more intimate styles than the Lover’s Eye. In particular, one example (ca. 1840), held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, features a locket of hair compartment at the back of the Lover’s Eye.

“Sentimental jewellery provided expression for both this curious romance and sorrow”

Hairwork was a speciality of the Victorians, who believed the hair to contain the essence of a person. The popularity of the Lover’s Eye continued during this time – it is fair to say that few enjoyed a coded message in their adornments more than the Victorian. Queen Victoria had several eye miniatures made during her reign, often made of her children which disrupted the notion that the Eye was reserved for romantic partners. While the Queen did not have one made of her husband, her frequenting of mourning jewellery after his death arguably led to an affiliation of jewellery, including the Lover’s Eye, with a different type of longing – one of loss and grief. Of a love that is forbidden not on the grounds of an illegal marriage but rather written out of all logical possibilities. Queen Victoria made mourning jewellery popular, transforming the style from its sinister use of skulls and crossbones towards floral and heart motifs. In doing so, she fused mourning and sentimental jewellery together, providing a reminder of everlasting romance.

“No form of jewellery has served as a modern-day replacement, instead renditions of the Eye”

The duality of love and loss embodied by Queen Victoria’s jewellery may suggest why sentimental jewellery was so popular in both Georgian and Victorian society. Where the Georgians pondered about what it meant to be seen, the Victorians obsessed over death – sentimental jewellery provided expression for both this curious romance and sorrow. It blurred the boundaries of love and death – expressing either or both simultaneously, and representing loving and dying as not separate but rather one condition of life. And in some cases, such as Maria and George, the jewellery shows how forbidden love in and of itself brings about feelings of grief even in the absence of death. The twofold meanings of love and death are particularly seen in how the jeweler would decorate the Lover’s Eye – where ivy represented fidelity and longevity, laburnum was a symbol of mourning and hairwork an act of preservation. Some Eyes were decorated to look as though they were surrounded by angels or floating in the sky, conveying the passing of a loved one and encrypting connotations of Heaven and peace.

It is thought that the Lover’s Eye period of vogue ended around the mid-19th Century. No form of jewellery has served as a modern-day replacement, instead renditions of the Eye, typically staying true to its original style, have been created. What perhaps has changed, however, is interpretations of the style. Romantic secrecy, affairs, and longing remain popular but new perceptions have entered the paradigm. For some audiences the Eye is not merely about symbolism but rather serves as a form of surveillance, a panoptic Eye if you will. Considering that the infamous origin story is about a woman, Maria, being gifted the watching eye of a man, George, it could also be interesting to apply a feminist interpretation using Mulvey’s male gaze. Additionally, some viewers have taken a Queer reinterpretation, focusing on how the Eye is encoded with a history of secret or forbidden love. Whatever the view taken, the Lover’s Eye represents a continuum of reflection – of the way we love, grieve, and remember.