Behold the second Christmas postcard that I received it this year and in my life. My good friend Wilma from the Netherlands, with whom I think I have telepathic links or maybe we were brothers in a past life, probably read what I wrote on the blog about the first postcard received, and she said in her mind: "Poor Little Dănuţ, nobody send him Christmas postcards" I'm kidding, of course. Dank je wel, Wilma!
The postcard shows a painting by the italian Francesco Raibolini (1450-1517), called Francia, namely Madonna and Child with St. Laurence and St. Jerome and Two Music Making Angels (1500), which is exposed at Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In The Catholic Encyclopedia is said that "the composition is necessarily uniform, in deference to the law of symmetry. There is naturally no action, the painter's object being to produce with these motionless figures an effect of harmony and recollection. It is a calm and tranquil beauty that he seeks to reproduce. (...) The orderly disposition of his figures and his well-balanced lines, heightened often by an architectural background or by landscapes, produces an impression of profound peace. So much happiness could have but one legitimate expression, i.e. music. In other words the angels playing on the harp or the lute, whom Francia loved to introduce, interpret naturally the emotions awakened by the harmony of form."
About the stamps
Each year the TNT Post issues a Christmas set of stamps titled December. The series issued in 2010 comprises ten wonderful stamps based on different designs depicting the Christmas and New Year symbols, of which Wilma used not less than four for this postcard.
This is a post for Sunday Stamps #102, run by Viridian from Viridian’s Postcard Blog. The theme of this week is Christmas/holiday stamps. Click on the button to visit Viridian’s blog and all the other participants.
References
Francesco Raibolini - The Catholic Encyclopedia
Christmas set from Netherlands - WOPA
sender: Wilma van Vegten
sent from Leiden (Netherlands), on 19.11.2012
I love that idea of telepathic links ;)
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you and your family, Danut!
Interesting to see Christmas 2010 stamps on a card written and sent in 2012.
ReplyDeleteHave a good Christmas and a Happy New Year.
These Dutch stamps have a different look to them than any of the other Christmas stamps. Nice to see!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Sarbatori Fericite.
yes a merry Christmas indeed. And a stamp of a gingerbread house! Much work, and no one wishes to eat it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for joining us this week!