Heart Tattoo Design

Heart Tattoo Design

The red heart then quickly spread across Europe, led in part by the Catholic Church with the adoption of the image The red heart first appeared in Roman paintings of the 12th and 13th centuries, the ivy leaves now the color of warm blood, signifying good luck, health, and love. It was during this period that the heart began the transformation into its current design. This theme continued throughout history often appearing on Roman tombstones and Christian graves, symbolizing eternal love beyond the grave. This type of decoration was often described in Christian teachings, depicting Jesus as a vine with an unselfish, heavenly heart.

 These symbols appeared 1000 years later on Cretan clay vessels, adorned in tendrils of ivy, flowers, and heart shaped leaves and continued into the 8th century when they appeared as ornate decorations on the handles of Corinthian vases. The decorations on the goblet were green, not red, and were fashioned after fig leaves, and later ivy leaves. and can be found on a baked clay goblet housed at the Museum of Kabul in Afghanistan. The first recorded example of the heart shape dates back to 3000 B.C. The two curves running to a tip is one of the most recognized shapes in history, rivaled only by the cross, but its century's long evolution to the bright red playing card symbol, as common in today's art, architecture, and as a universal sign of cardiology, is surprising.

  The heart tattoo design has been popular for the past 100 years, its popularity peaking in the early to mid 1900's.