Looking Through the Eyes of Love

A Post-Valentine Entry

“You can have all the means of communication in the world at your disposal, but nothing, absolutely nothing, can replace looking someone in the eye – Paulo Coelho”

Staying true to this adage, the Birmingham Museum of Art has unveiled its newest art show entitled “Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection” from February 7 through June 10, 2012. The art show presents the famous counterpart of mood rings in the 18^th and 19^th century – the lover’s eyes. According to experts, less than 1000 lover’s eyes, excluding forgeries and recent creations, exist today and the largest collection of it belongs to David and Nan Skier. The couple started collecting lover’s eyes miniatures twenty years ago when, during an antique show in Boston, they crossed path on their first lover’s eye – a ring with a young man’s eye hand-painted on a blue enamel encrusted with diamonds and pearls. It was such an enthralling experience, according to David Skier.

 “I spend my whole life giving people vision – operating on people who are blind and giving them vision – and this just enthralled us. The image was so powerful, but so elegant and small.” (Vanity Fair, 2012)

They even set to find out the identity of the eye’s owner. Based on their research, the ring belonged to the Director of East India Company and the eye to his son.

Deeply captivated by this peculiar relic, the couple’s collection grew from one piece of lover’s eyes to 95 pieces, and is currently in view for the public at Birmingham Museum of Art. Their collection of lover’s eyes varied from rings, brooches, pendants, and lockets – common accessories in the 18^th and 19^th century.

The Birth of Lover’s Eye

According to Dr. Graham Boettcher, an American Art curator at the Birmingham Art of Museum, this peculiar form of art began in the 18^th century when the Prince of Wales, who later became George IV, met the twice-widowed Catholic commoner (that’s a triple violation on royal marriage laws) named Maria Fitzherbert. The Prince of Wales tried to win her affection by staging a half-hearted suicide attempt to get her to marry him. He succeeded and they got married but, on the next day, Maria Fitzherbert fled. She came to realize how wrong the marriage was. This did not dampen the prince’s spirit. Instead, he commissioned Richard Cosway, a celebrated Miniaturist, to paint his eye set in a locket, and sent it, together with a letter, to Maria. 

“P.S. I send you a parcel, and I send you at the same time an eye. If you have not totally forgotten the whole countenance, I think the likeness will strike you. – Prince of Wales’ letter to Maria”

Shortly after their clandestine affair was discovered, these eye miniatures became an instant hit to lovers, especially to secret lovers. The story did not end there, especially for something that made Queen Victoria to commission some eye miniatures for her and friends; and Charles Dicken’s mentioned it in his novel, Dombey and Sons. Dickens described Miss Tox, a poor old spinster, as wearing “round her neck the barrenest of lockets, representing a fishy old eye.”  The English origin of eye miniature had been challenged. Some evidence, including Lady Elearnor Butler’s Diary, appeared to have suggested that the eye miniature was a French idea. The lady wrote in her diary about a young man who arrived from France and brought with him “an Eye, don in Paris and set in a ring – a true French idea”. Nevertheless, it was the controversial affair between the Prince of Wales and Maria Fitzherbert that popularized the eye miniature in the 18^th and 19^th century.

During those times, they called these pieces as “eye miniatures” but changed to “Lover’s Eye” after the New York-based jeweler Edith Weber called it “Lover’s Eye”, a more fitting name to a piece with a romantic past. 

The Lover’s Eye as Fad

What makes it a fad? Besides the romantic link, the eye has mystery attached to it. Everything surrounded with mystery is appealing, right? The eye miniatures’ mystery lies on the fact that no one will recognize the eye except the bearer of the eye miniature. Would you remember someone’s eye if he/she is not important to you? Of course not, have you considered remembering the eye or the face of the people you pass by outside? No, again. Because remembering someone’s eye is very personal.

The eye can reveal many things about the beholder of the eye, as the famous saying goes. “Eye is the window of the soul”. For example, in movies, when the beloved tries to protect his lover by leaving him, the beloved will tell the lover that the beloved has fallen out of love. But the lover will ask the beloved to say those words while looking at the lover’s eyes. And the beloved will surrender to tears. The lover will know the beloved still has feelings for the lover.  Because “it is the window of the soul”, it “has one language everywhere” as George Herbert pointed out. People may come from different places and continents, but it does not stop someone from understanding the eyes of love, happy, sad, fear and worried. Ever heard someone said, “There’s some sparks in your eyes”. You knew from then, what that someone meant. That person is able to know your feelings by looking through the eyes of love.  

 “Look of Love: Eye Miniatures from the Skier Collection” will be on view at the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Ala., from Feb. 7 through June 10, 2012.

 References

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/02/lovers-eyes-birmingham-museum-of-art-exhibit#slide=5

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/the_secret_history_of_lovers_eyes/

http://www.georgianjewelry.com/items/show/6020-georgian-lover-s-eye-portrait-miniature-of-redhead

http://candicehern.com/collections/01/eyes.htmhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3313436/The-look-of-love-straight-in-the-eyes.html

I Came and I Felt “Bitin”

A week before the lecture, I decided adamantly that I wouldn’t attend his lecture because I need to save money, as if I was saving money this past week. On the other hand, I really enjoyed Dr. Ambeth Ocampo’s previous lectures that I couldn’t just let this opportunity to slip away, besides the two meetings I had on Saturday were scheduled on morning and evening, respectively. It meant I had enough time to attend the lecture or wander around anywhere before my meeting in the evening. And so I came.

Like his previous lectures, the final installment of History Comes Alive 2011 titled “Doble Kara: Rizal in Arts and Monuments” was well well-attended despite the scheduled football game between Azkals and LA Galaxy Team. Since I made no reservation, I arrived early, paid the ticket and was asked to choose which among the four Looking Back series I wanted as a souvenir. I hesitated a bit before I chose the Looking Back 1. I was a bit disappointed because I already have the 4 Looking Backs and was looking forward to the fifth volume.


Similar to his laid-back style of writing, he was no different when delivering lectures. I could sometimes conjure an image of him talking while reading his column in Philippine Daily Inquirer.  The only difference between writing and speaking is one could relish hearing him speak and deliver those well-applauded punch lines. 

The lecture started when he showed a slide of photos depicting Rizal in various monuments in Philippines and abroad. Some of Rizal’s monuments are outright ugly because of “lack in creativity or knowledge” while others are impeccably beautiful.  His dazzling brilliancy in making “useless information” useful is amazing. Some historians treated “useless information” irrelevant but Dr. Ambeth Ocampo begged to differ.  Like they say, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” and Dr. Ambeth definitely made treasure out of these “useless information”.

What are these “useless information”? I tried to remember everything and sadly, I failed. I could only give glimpses on what were shared during his lecture.

• Rizal, on his Noli Me Tangere draft, dedicated his work to GOMBURZA and left the date of death blank, but when his work was published, it contained the date of death and age of GOMBURZA which was found later to be wronged. Lesson learned: Never believed anything even if that person is a hero because first and foremost, he is human.
• The gold foot print markings installed on Intramuros grounds symbolizes Rizal’s final walk. Professor Ambeth, curious as always, inquired why the spaces between foot prints were too small. The worker answered his [Rizal] feet were bound. According to Dr. Ambeth, Rizal’s hands were bound not his feet. Another incident involving the same gold foot prints when Dr. Ambeth asked the same question. The contractor replied “kung mamatay ka, magmamadali ka pa ba?” and Dr. Ambeth surrendered the case. 
• A fake photograph of Rizal’s final hours can be recognized if you do not recognize a dog in the picture.
• One of Rizal’s sisters wiped 12 handkerchiefs on Rizal’s puddle of blood to serve as reminder of that sad day. As of writing, Dr. Ambeth Ocampo has found one but lost immediately when, during his visit in one of Rizal’s relatives, the “katulong” thought the bloodied handkerchief as an ordinary dirty hanky and washed it. But there’s still hope, according to him, there are still 11 remaining handkerchiefs hidden in someone’s baul waiting to be uncovered.
• One of the Paco Park’s administrators tried to build a women’s comfort room on top of GOMBURZA’s graves. Good thing, Dr. Ambeth Ocampo saw it, informed Mayor Alfredo Lim and the comfort room was immediately removed in the afternoon.
• Another Gomburza anecdote involved a Filipino priest. During the death anniversary of the Gomburza Martyrs, Dr. Ambeth asked one Filipino priest to bless the tomb. The priest agreed but never appeared on the day of the blessing. Interestingly, it was a Spanish Priest who gave blessing to the tomb.
• He discussed that garrote gives a quick painless death and not the slow agonizing pain described by some authors. The garrote does not suffocate his/her victim but snaps his/her neck for a sudden death. After giving his audience a gruesome description of garrote, Dr. Ambeth showed funny pictures of Filipinos posing with the garrote.  Take note, those picture are not taken recently but old photos. Now, I understand where we get this penchant for picture taking.
• Most of our 19^th century heroes were still child or unborn during the Terror of 1872 and yet most of them knew who they want to be and aware of their surrounding even before they reached the age of 40. I was a little embarrassed when he mentioned it because I had been ranting about my work, my life and yet at the age of 24, what have I contributed to my country besides tax and as a law-abiding citizen.

There are still other “useless information” mentioned during the lecture but I would no longer share it. You have to attend Dr. Ocampo’s lecture. But one thing I would definitely share is Dr. Ocampo’s final words.

“Your image of Rizal depends on the books you read, the teachers you had, and the monuments you saw. There will be more monuments as we have Rizals, and maybe in the multitude of Rizals that we have, maybe one day when we read him, we will find the real Rizal”

After he said his final words, I couldn’t believe the storytelling was ending. I looked at my watch and noticed the time was around 04:00 pm when his previous lectures ended around 05:00 pm. I was surprised that it only took more than an hour because I still didn’t want the lecture to end and so I felt “bitin”. I could still enjoy reading his column on Philippine Daily Inquirer while waiting for the 2012 History Comes Alive.

For more details about the lecture Doble Kara: Rizal in Monument, please visit this article from Manila Bulletin. The article has more detailed information about the lecture than what I shared in my review. Next time, I'll try to bring a pen and notebook so I don't have to rely on memory alone.