“For she had eyes and chose me.” ― William Shakespeare, Othello     These miniature paintings of the ‘lover’s eye’ were made in painted watercolour on ivory in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Set in lockets, brooches, bracelets, rings, toothpick cases, and in the example above an 18th Century ladies travel urinal. The inscription for which says: “Ha je te vois petit coquin.” (Ha! I see you, little rascal.)     These lovers’ eyes have a whiff of the erotic and the clandestine, giving a secret wink to a watching lover. Indeed, the fashion for them began in England when the then Prince and Wales and would-be future King George IV (12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was smitten with the twice-widowed Maria Anne Fitzherbert (26 July 1756 – 27 March 1837). To declare that she’d caught his eye he sent her a painting of his eye and a marriage proposal. The couple married in a secret ceremony in 1785. The marriage was illegal. The Prince did not have the King’s approval and the heir was forbidden from marrying a Catholic without forfeiting his right to the throne. And so it was that Mrs Fitzherbert was fated to a life of deception as the Prince’s ‘mistress’. She kept up the pretence for almost a decade after George’s official marriage to his first cousin, Caroline of Brunswick, in 1795.     But true love outed and the Duke of Wellington (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852)  testified to having seen a miniature of Fitzherbert around the king’s neck as he lay on his deathbed. The miniature, set in a diamond locket on a threadbare black ribbon, was buried with the king according to the terms of his will. What else went on between them is moot. But George and Maria never went as far as that most famous Lover’s Eye, Beauty Revealed, a topless self-portrait Sarah Goodridge gave her lover, the politician Daniel Webster.   Eye of Mary Sarah Fox, enveloped in foxgloves, set in a gold frame with seed pearl and guilloche border, circa 1835. Lover’s eye, 1817 Ann Fryer by George IV’s Principal Painter Richard Cosway, 1787     Via: Birmingham Museum of Art, and the private collection of David and Nan Skier. The post The Lover’s Eye – Secret Desire In Georgian England appeared first on Flashbak.

Bela Lugosi was certainly not the studio's first choice.

How does the new version compare?

As a Millennial, I want to tell you right now how much I relate to this post. I’m exhausted. Not just because I have to work constantly just to afford to live, but because I’ve lived through so many major changes that I don’t think I can bare another one. The Millennials in this Reddit post are explaining why our generation is so exhausted all the time, and the answers are surprisingly insightful. They say our generation is entitled and ruining the economy, but the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. 1. Shutterstock – DimaBerlin “You’re not alone. I have no kids, am single, don’t party, and I just have a glass of wine every now and then. I have hobbies I want to pursue but zero energy. I get up exhausted, go to work, come home exhausted, go to bed early, and repeat.” – u/MinuteSweet7900 2. “I feel 87 in a 32-year-old body.” – u/Marzipanarian 3. “For many people, it’s because they don’t work or live towards something other than the next time they’re off work or the next hit of low-effort endorphins, like TV or games — which is understandable given the unpredictable times we’ve been living in.” – u/Cthulhu__ 4. Shutterstock – Prostock-studio “I go back and forth debating whether my chronic exhaustion is a physical condition caused by the side effects of Covid, microplastics, a food supply that’s full of poison, or if it’s primarily mental exhaustion caused by living in a world that is collapsing around us with little hope that anything will ever get better. Maybe a little column A, little column B.” – u/En_CHILL_ada 5. “Millennials give a dang about the past, the present, and the future, all while taking care of those we love and ourselves. And the world is going to heck. We are all tired.” – u/Phi-LA-Minion 6. Shutterstock – Prostock-studio “I think it’s depression, not so much exhaustion. Because same.” – u/Myriachan 7. “Inflation and increased cost of living without proportional raises. I don’t know of many people who are getting raises that outpace the annual cost-of-living increases. It’s hitting people across the spectrum (not just those earning minimum wage) and it adds a lot of stress.” – u/Head_Act_585 8. “The ruining of food. This one isn’t talked about much but I’m talking about this constant race to make food cheaper using high-fructose corn syrup instead of sugar and a million and one additives instead of real ingredients. All of the meat we eat is pumped full of hormones and corn to fatten it up as fast as possible. And all of fruits and vegetables are coated in pesticides. This has to be a contributing factor!” – u/Head_Act_585 9. Shutterstock – Elena Shishkina “Every day when I get home from work I think, ‘I cannot imagine having to care for someone else right now; how do people with kids do this?'” – u/midcitycat 10. “Have you heard we’ve been dubbed the unluckiest generation because of everything we’ve been through? I wonder if we’d be less tired had it not been for all of the emotionally taxing things in our lifetime.” – u/Various_Craft7435 11. “We are in the US so this may not be relevant to all folks our age but: Can you even imagine if we weren’t worrying about the full collapse of American society? Like what would these adult years in our 30s and 40s — entering full-on proper adulthood — be like if literally any boring guy or gal was president? Give me Mitt Romney or some boring person who I disagree with on most issues wholeheartedly, but man, we would still have most of our institutions in place with proper people in charge of the various agencies.” – u/PoorMansPaulRudd 12. Shutterstock – Prostock-studio “The constant barrage of political BS has everyone micro-dosing cortisol all the time. Even if you try to ignore it, it’s just everywhere, screaming that the world is on fire in one way or another.” – u/zanoske00 13. “Someone made a post once saying that it’s all because our brain is like a computer running with 100 files open. When we’re younger we had more energy because we didn’t have all that stuff filling our minds. It clicked with me and now I’m really trying to simplify my life.” – u/Taymoney_duh 14. “My working theory is that traffic, be it driving or commuting, drains us every day. You have to get up earlier, everything takes longer, it’s exhausting, stressful, and a waste of time. Had I found a job in my home town, I’d have a brisk 5-15-minute walk to work. As it stands, it takes me around 45 minutes to get to work and an hour to get back. Imagine learning any skill for an hour and 45 minutes every day. Give it a year, and you’d be better at it than 80% of humans. I can’t go anywhere or do anything without it taking at least an hour. It takes its toll, we just don’t see it.” – u/Geralt-of-Trivia93 15. Shutterstock – Prostock-studio “I think it’s the constant doom we are exposed to. Billionaires own everything. Our political system doesn’t work for us. Our lives revolve around algorithms created by the billionaires. They keep us in a constant state of fear of losing the little bit we have. We don’t have a hopeful future, so nothing to get excited about.” – u/NewDay0110 16. “So often in college, we’d be pre-partying and a friend would get off work and come straight there to join us. They’d do a quick outfit change, put on makeup while drinking, then go straight out. Imagine working and going out on the same day, with no break in between. And we weren’t even tired from work!” – u/carefulabalone The post Millennials Share Why We’re All So Exhausted, And The Answers Are Surprisingly Insightful appeared first on Pleated Jeans.