The valentine shows a woman sewing a dress. Both the woman's dress and the one she sews have red bodices and yellow skirts, but the one she sews has a lower neckline and shorter sleeves. The sender mocks the recipient for her status as a single woman., Text: My ugly old maid, how sad is your lot, / To work on some fine wedding gown, / And know all the while, live as long as you may, / You'll never have one of your own., Provenance: McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
In Heath’s Book of beauty (London, 1840), plate opposite p. [277]; the accompanying text is a poem “To Madame Van de Weyer : written on her wedding-day.”, In 1839, Elizabeth Anne Sturgis Bates married Sylvain Van de Weyer (1802-1874), who served as the Belgian Ambassador in London, 1831-1867., Knee-length portrait of the Massachusetts native, possibly wearing her wedding dress.
