Eye Miniatures or Lover's Eye were Georgian portraits of the eye of your beloved so that it could be carried with you. A doorway to your lover's heart that was known so intimately by you but would be hard for anyone else to recognise - a secret link or love-token. In 1785, the miniatures became well-known through a scandalous affair between the Prince of Wales, later King George IV of England, and a widowed commoner named Maria Fitzherbert. The two wed in secret and commissioned portraits of their as discreet tokens of affection.
