Heart (symbol) Facts for Kids

A heart symbol.

A wounded heart symbol pierced with an arrow.

The heart symbol is a symbol used to express affection or love, especially if it is romantic. A wounded heart symbol is used to express lovesickness, and is either shown pierced with an arrow or broken into two or more pieces.

Images for kids

A heart symbol from the Achaemenid period, in the Louvre Museum, made of ivory.
A sasanian-style textile from first century AH that shows two winged horses with one heart symbol top of them.
The earliest known possible visual depiction of a heart symbol, as a lover hands his heart to the beloved lady, in a manuscript of the Roman de la poire, 13th century.
Giotto's allegory of charity handing her heart to Jesus Christ (c. 1305)
Charity on the south doors of the Florence Baptistery (c. 1336)
The chanson Belle, Bonne, Sage by Baude Cordier, written in the shape of a heart, in the Chantilly Codex. This is one of two dedicatory pieces placed at the beginning of the older (late 14th century) corpus, probably to replace the original first fascicle, which is missing.
Early depiction of the Heart of Jesus in the context of the Five Wounds (the wounded heart here depicting Christ's wound inflicted by the Lance of Longinus) in a 15th century manuscript.
1486 depiction of the Five Wounds
Miniature from the Petit Livre d'Amour (c. 1500), showing the author Pierre Sala [fr] depositing his heart in a marguerite flower (symbolizing his mistress, who was called Marguerite). Also worth mentioning is the miniature on fol. 13r, showing two women catching winged hearts in a net.
The Luther rose, 1706 print after the 1530 design.
Hearts suit in a 1540s German deck of playing cards
The Danish "Heart Book", a heart-shaped manuscript of love ballads from the 1550s.
Augustine of Hippo holding a heart in his hand which is set alight by a ray emanating from divine Truth (Veritas), painting by Philippe de Champaigne, c. 1650.
Allegorical painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The central heart radiates hearts gathered up by Putti. By Robert la Longe, c. 1705.
Leaden heart of Raesfeld chapel (funerary casket containing the heart of Christoph Otto von Velen, d. 1733)
18th-century depiction of the Sacred Heart from the vision of Marguerite Marie Alacoque (d. 1690). The heart is both "heart shaped" and drawn anatomically correct, with both the aorta and the pulmonary artery visible, with the crucifix placed inside the aorta.
Another anatomically correct Sacred Heart, painted in c. 1770 by José de Páez.
A heart-shaped "Map of Woman's Heart" (1830s)
Two burning hearts, coloured pink, illustration on a Victorian-era Valentine's Day card.
A "Vinegar Valentine" card from the 1870s, with a red heart symbol pierced by six arrows.
The traditional "heart shape" appears on a 1910 Valentine's Day card.
Sheet music cover of "Look in His Eyes", from the musical Have a Heart (1913).
Magazine advertisement for the silent film The Orderly (1921).
Wedding rings of a groom and bride with shadow in form of heart - symbolic of love.
Ancient silver coin from Cyrene, Libya depicting the heart-shaped 'seed' (actually fruit) of silphium.
Example of a heart-shaped mericarp fruit in a plant (Heracleum sphondylium) belonging, like the unidentified silphium, to the parsley family, Apiaceae.
Ferula assa-foetida a species of giant fennel belonging to the same genus as the ancient silphium and regarded as having similar properties, while being an inferior substitute for the plant.
Ferula tingitana: a possible identity for silphium.
Heart curve on TI-89 graphing calculator
Parametric equation of heart curve on TI-89 graphing calculator

Heart (symbol) facts for kids

Images for kids

See also