Friday, December 12, 2008

Christmas Stamps Include German-Vatican Issue

The world seems to have an endless supply of paintings and other artworks with religious themes.

Christmas in particular has inspired artists for centuries, and stamp designers have an almost endless source of material for Christmas stamps each year.

A modern trend in stamp releases is the "joint issue," in which two countries issue stamps of the same design.

In honor of Pope Benedict XVI, a native of Germany, the Vatican and German post offices have arranged a joint Christmas issue this year, with Renaissance art from both countries.

The German work is an "Adoration of the Magi" by Albrecht Dürer, the centerpiece of an altar commissioned by the Paumgartner family of Nuremberg about 1498.

The Vatican fresco is based on a sketch by Raffaello Sanzio, part of a series of wall paintings in the Apostolic Palace completed around 1517-1519.

Raffaello's workshop adorned the walls and ceilings with many paintings, including an "Adoration of the Magi."

A 300-year-old ceiling fresco from the parish church in Flachgau is seen on an Austrian stamp this year.

The scene of the "Adoration of the Magi" was created by an unknown artist around the year 1700 and was extensively restored in the 1850s.

A traditional madonna-and-child painting was used for Italy's Christmas stamp. The "Madonna and Child Enthroned With Two Angels" by Lorenzo di Credi (early 16th century) is now owned by a bank in Brescia.

A painting of the angel Gabriel by artist Renee-Teofila Pietratonio appears on Argentina's Christmas stamp. The painting was first shown at the 2000 Religious Art Argentine Biennale in Buenos Aires. This every-other-year show, sponsored by Catholic Church organizations in Argentina, provides a venue for artists of religious paintings to express their creativity. After the Buenos Aires showing, the exhibition travels around the country.

The Spanish post office continued a recent trend in Christmas stamps by contrasting the very old and very new.

The "old" is an 18th-century creche scene called the Misterio-Belen del Principe, a Neapolitan/Spanish work.

The other stamp is titled "Maternidad" (Maternity) and depicts a painting by artist J. Carrero.

The painter found inspiration in the figure of a young mother carrying a baby.
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