<P> The first known depiction of a heart as a symbol of romantic love dates to the 1250s . It occurs in a miniature decorating a capital ' S ' in a manuscript of the French Roman de la poire ( National Library FR MS . 2086 , plate 12 ) . In the miniature a kneeling lover ( or more precisely , an allegory of the lover 's `` sweet gaze '' or douz regart ) offers his heart to a damsel . The heart here resembles a pine cone ( held `` upside down '' , the point facing upward ) , in accord with medieval anatomical descriptions . However , in this miniature what suggests a heart shape is only the result of a lover 's finger superimposed on an object ; the full shape outline of the object is partly hidden , and therefore unknown . Moreover , the French title of the manuscript that features the miniature translates into `` Novel Of The Pear '' in English . Thus the heart shaped object would be a pear ; the conclusion that a pear represents a heart is dubious . Opinions therefore differ over this being the first depiction of a heart as symbol of romantic love . Giotto in his 1305 painting in the Scrovegni Chapel ( Padua ) shows an allegory of charity ( caritas ) handing her heart to Jesus Christ . This heart is also depicted in the pine cone shape based on anatomical descriptions of the day ( still held `` upside down '' ) . Giotto 's painting exerted considerable influence on later painters , and the motive of Caritas offering a heart is shown by Taddeo Gaddi in Santa Croce , by Andrea Pisano on the bronze door of the south porch of the Baptisterium in Florence ( c. 1337 ) , by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Palazzo Publico in Siena ( c. 1340 ) and by Andrea da Firenze in Santa Maria Novella in Florence ( c. 1365 ) . The convention of showing the heart point upward switches in the late 14th century and becomes rare in the first half of the 15th century . </P>
<P> The first known depiction of a heart as a symbol of romantic love dates to the 1250s . It occurs in a miniature decorating a capital ' S ' in a manuscript of the French Roman de la poire ( National Library FR MS . 2086 , plate 12 ) . In the miniature a kneeling lover ( or more precisely , an allegory of the lover 's `` sweet gaze '' or douz regart ) offers his heart to a damsel . The heart here resembles a pine cone ( held `` upside down '' , the point facing upward ) , in accord with medieval anatomical descriptions . However , in this miniature what suggests a heart shape is only the result of a lover 's finger superimposed on an object ; the full shape outline of the object is partly hidden , and therefore unknown . Moreover , the French title of the manuscript that features the miniature translates into `` Novel Of The Pear '' in English . Thus the heart shaped object would be a pear ; the conclusion that a pear represents a heart is dubious . Opinions therefore differ over this being the first depiction of a heart as symbol of romantic love . Giotto in his 1305 painting in the Scrovegni Chapel ( Padua ) shows an allegory of charity ( caritas ) handing her heart to Jesus Christ . This heart is also depicted in the pine cone shape based on anatomical descriptions of the day ( still held `` upside down '' ) . Giotto 's painting exerted considerable influence on later painters , and the motive of Caritas offering a heart is shown by Taddeo Gaddi in Santa Croce , by Andrea Pisano on the bronze door of the south porch of the Baptisterium in Florence ( c. 1337 ) , by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Palazzo Publico in Siena ( c. 1340 ) and by Andrea da Firenze in Santa Maria Novella in Florence ( c. 1365 ) . The convention of showing the heart point upward switches in the late 14th century and becomes rare in the first half of the 15th century . </P>
when did the heart become associated with love
when did the heart become associated with love
the 1250s
the 1250s