Paintings & Arts on Postage Stamps Around the World

   ◧ Artist: Francisco Goya  (1746 - 1828)   ◧ Country: Spain ◧   Title:  [The Milkmaid of Bordeaux]         ◧ Medium: Oil on canvas  ◧ Painting Size:  74 x 68 cm ◧ Museum: Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain (click to visit the museum) ◧ County of Stamp Issue: Spain ◧ Date of Issue: May 31, 1996 ◧ Face Value: 3 0 Spanish Peseta ◧ Issued to commemorate 250th anniversary of Goya's birth ▷━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◁ The figure has traditionally been considered as a milkmaid, mounted on the back of a mule and carrying a jug overflowing with milk, it followed the tradition of figures of trades and professions, which began in European art with the first Italian examples from the beginning of the 17th century .  (from Description at Prado Museum) Available at  Stamps / Arts & Prints  (Click  images below to shop at eBay)

  ◧ Artist: Francisco Goya  (1746 - 1828)   ◧ Country: Spain ◧   Title:  [On May 3 in Madrid]         ◧ Medium: Oil on canvas  ◧ Painting Size:  268 x 347 cm ◧ Museum: Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain (click to visit the museum) ◧ County of Stamp Issue: Spain ◧ Date of Issue: May 31, 1996 ◧ Face Value:  130 Spanish Peseta ◧ Issued to commemorate 250th anniversary of Goya's birth ▷━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◁ Goya painted only two pictures with the events of May 2, 1808 and not four, as is usually proposed in the bibliography, as the invoices for only two marks attest. It was a commission from the Regency, continued by King Ferdinand VII and the regulatory process was followed in court orders. Goya raised two crucial issues, which visually complement each other and have a joint meaning: the violent attack by the people of Madrid on Murat's troops on the morning of May 2 and the subsequent retaliation by the French army. He chose for t...

    ◧ Artist: Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1890) ◧ Country: Netherlands ◧ Title:  [The Starry Night]          ◧ Medium: Oil painting on canvas ◧ Painting Size:   73.0 x 92.0 cm ◧ Museum:    Musée d'Orsay, Paris   (Click to visit the museum) ◧ Country of Stamp Issue: France ◧  Date of Issue: April 27, 2013 ◧ Face Value: No Face Value ◧ Issued as a part of Impressionist Paintings series ▷━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◁ As soon as he arrived in Arles on February 8, 1888, the representation of "night effects" was a constant preoccupation for Van Gogh. In April 1888, he wrote to his brother Theo: "I need a starry night with cypresses or, perhaps, above a field of ripe wheat". In June, it is to the painter Emile Bernard that he confides: "But when will I make the starry sky , this painting which, always, concerns me" and, in September, in a letter to his sister, he evokes the same subject: "Often it seems to me that the night is even mo...

   ◧ Artist: Alfred Sisley (1839 - 1899) ◧ Country: Great Britain ◧ Title:  [The Island of Grande Jatte]          ◧ Medium: Oil painting on canvas ◧ Painting Size:   50.5 x 65.0 cm ◧ Museum:    Musée d'Orsay, Paris   (Click to visit the museum) ◧ Country of Stamp Issue: France ◧  Date of Issue: April 27, 2013 ◧ Face Value: No Face Value ◧ Issued as a part of Impressionist Paintings series ▷━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◁ Alfred Sisley, a British citizen who spent the majority of his life in France, was well-known for his Impressionist paintings. Available at  Stamps / Arts & Prints  (Click images below to shop at eBay)

  ◧ Artist: Francisco Goya  (1746 - 1828)   ◧ Country: Spain ◧   Title:  [Children with Hunting Dogs]         ◧ Medium: Oil on canvas  ◧ Painting Size:  112 × 145 cm   ◧ Museum: Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain (click to visit the museum) ◧ County of Stamp Issue: Spain ◧ Date of Issue: May 31, 1996 ◧ Face Value:  60 Spanish Peseta ◧ Issued to commemorate 250th anniversary of Goya's birth ▷━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◁ Two boys lead two large bulldogs on their leashes, each equipped with muzzles. On the collar of one of them there is an incomplete inscription, "DEL S or R", perhaps corresponding to "I am from the Royal Service." (from Description at Prado Museum) Available at  Stamps / Arts & Prints  (Click  images below to shop at eBay)

    ◧ Artist: Nikolai Astrup  (1880-1928) ◧ Country: Norway ◧   Title:  [Bonfire celebrating Midsummer Night]       ◧ Medium: Oil on canvas ◧ Painting Size:  88.8 × 104.9 cm ◧ Museum: The National Museum, Oslo, Norway ◧ County of Stamp Issue: Norway ◧ Date of Issue: November 14, 1980 ◧ Face Value:  1.25 Norwegian Krone ▷━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◁ After completing his training, Nikolai Astrup returned to his home village of Jølster in 1902 to work there as a smallholder, painter, and printmaker. His art is inextricably linked to the nature and people of Jølster. He was nonetheless not himself a member of the peasantry and was thus able to view the lives of his fellow villagers from an outsider’s perspective. His lush depictions of the scenic Western Norwegian nature and of local customs, such as the Midsummer Night’s bonfire, have made him a beloved artist.(excerpt from the painting description at the National Museum, Oslo, Norway) Avail...

  ◧ Artist: Simon Vouet  (1590-1649)  ◧ Country: France ◧   Title:  [Saint Catherine]       ◧ Medium: Oil on canvas ◧ Painting Size:  98.7 × 74.2 cm ◧ Museum: Slovak National Gallery,  Bratislava (click to visit the museum) ◧ County of Stamp Issue: Slovakia ◧ Date of Issue: November 28, 2003 ◧ Face Value:  14 SK ▷━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◁ It is known that the work of the important French painter Simon Vouet during his stay in Rome (1613 - 1627) was significantly marked by the Caravaggio orientation. It manifested itself mainly in the reflective lighting of the scene and the compositional solution based on a neutral background, suppressing the illusory space. The style of the great master was conveyed to him by Roman caravaggists, including Orazio Gentileschi and his daughter Artemisia. In this stylistic view, he also painted the Bratislava Sv. Catherine - in front of a dark background, with the exclusion of all side elements, so t...