In the third century, when St. Valentine, a Christian martyr, died, the day came to be known as St. Valentine's Day. Far from its violent origins, Valentine’s Day soon became associated with the day of sending and receiving grand gestures of love and adoration.
Artists and architects for centuries have been involved in the declaration of love. Some of these artworks, now part of museums and historical collections and many such monuments continue to inspire the blossoming of love. Monuments such as Taj Mahal, built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. One of the original seven wonders of the world, the glistening white marble monument took 22 long years to be built.
When Charles I was imprisoned for treason in 1647, he used the windows of his prison cell at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight to express his love and loyalty to his wife, Henrietta Maria. A green-tinted glass with nine quarries now part of the V&A collection reads, ‘I am yours and only yours till death separates’.
This year, in celebration of Valentine's Day, the National Gallery in London has curated a guided tour focusing on love as depicted through art history. The tour offers visitors the chance to engage with the collection through themes of courtship, fidelity and passion.
However, commissioning works of art and building grand monuments was not everyone’s cup of tea. Most took to writing. Meticulous calligraphic letters of undying, infinite love, which perhaps would not have been possible without the usage of State seals and stamps.
Historically, wooden stamps and ink would be used to deliver letters until the 1840s when postage stamps were invented. The first being The Penny Black, which featured the side profile of Queen Victoria, engraved by Charles Heath. While the inventor of the stamp remains unclear and is often disputed, the introduction of the postage stamp was a mere attempt to improve the postal system in the United Kingdom. Soon after countries across the globe introduced the stamp making it a universal way of sending and sharing correspondence. However, the United Kingdom continues to be the only country to not mention its name on the stamp. The reigning monarch’s image, the royal proclamation.
The process of creating a stamp was a tedious one with designers, researchers, administrators and even engravers involved. But as technology evolved, postage stamps were simply printed.
When postage stamps were introduced in India, the nation was still under British rule. A circular stamp with the emblem of the East India Company was released in 1852. While the country comprised 565 Princely States at the time, very few released their own postal stamps. Most of which had images of the ruler of the kingdom engraved. But ever since, stamps offer a visual narrative of India’s progress.
The practice of collecting stamps, or philately, started soon after the introduction of The Penny Black. Jean-Baptiste Philippe Constant Moens, recognised as the father of philately and the first dealer in stamps even published a handbook for stamp collections shortly after in 1862.
The practice of stamp collecting is filled with discovery, research and a rare find can also fetch millions. For example, there is only one copy remaining of the British Guiana 1c Magenta, a magenta stamp with a ship drawn from 1856. While the stamp has exchanged several hands over the years, in 2021 it sold for a whopping 8.3 million dollars, making it the most valuable stamp.
On Philately Day, October 8, Postmaster General Shri Krishna Kumar Yadav stated last year that ‘stamps are the carriers of a nation's civilisation, culture, and heritage’. In an attempt to lure youngsters to ditch their digital screens for philately several initiatives have begun. This included The Mahapex 2025 State Level Philately Exhibition, which was organised, last month in Mumbai celebrating the philatelic legacy of Maharashtra and Goa. Thousands of students flocked to see the numerous stamps displayed and learn about India’s postage history.
Himali Singh Soin, a multi disciplinary artist incorporated a postage stamp into her artwork titled Static Range (2021). A video animation with colour and sound, a powerful work of art, celebrating the Himalayan mountains and the bounties of nature but also shedding light on an important chapter of nuclear history and the impact it leaves on nature and humanity.
A nuclear powered surveillance device was installed on the mighty Nanda Devi in 1965, a project by the CIA and Indian Intelligence Bureau to intercept the Chinese. Soon after a storm led to the abandonment of the mission and the device went missing. Sadly this resulted in the closure of the mountain for the ardent trekkers and expeditioners.
However, Himali’s father, a mountaineer, managed to capture the peak during the short interim when the mountain was open to visitors in 1978. His photograph, a breathtaking image of the mountain, appeared on the national stamp a decade later. Soin’s masterpiece, is a 15-minute installation, a love letter, dedicated not only to the mountain but to love lost and letters which never find their way in conflict and war zones.
While the ease of sending a message over WhatsApp or an email is far less cumbersome, a letter with a hand-pasted postage stamp exudes nostalgia and is perhaps a meaningful way to profess love this Valentine's Day.