Pablo Picasso - La Vie

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) - La Vie (1903)
Equatorial Guinea Stamp Issued 1973
Painting at the Cleveland Museum of Art USA

Pablo Picasso went through a period where most of his work consisted of monochrome greens or blues.  This is one of his most famous works during that period - there is an overwhelming sense of desolation in this work.  This period of blue desolation was common in Picasso's work following suicide by one of his friends, Carlos Casagemas, in Paris in 1901.

Picasso was only 20 when he completed this painting.  His paintings would depart radically from European convention from 1907 starting with the Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.  This would lead him into being one of the most famous figures of the modern art world.

Mother and Sick Child is another one of his desolate depressing works through this period, which was fittingly used as a stamp by the Maldives when Picasso died in 1973.

Other Picasso works on Stamps:
Seated Nude

Guido Reni - Adoration of the Shepherds

Guido Reni (1575-1642) - Adoration of the Shepherds (1640)
Anguilla Stamp Issued in 1973
Painting located at Pushkin Museum, Russia

Reni was a baroque style artist who took great pleasure in painting many religious scenes - Adoration of the Shepherds was one his favourites, as he did several versions of it.  His paintings are used on many Christmas cards throughout the world.

Anguilla issued this 1c stamp in 1973.  With a population of only 13.500, Anguilla is a British Territory and tax haven located in the Caribbean.

Annunciation Scene from a Flemish Book of Hours - Artist Unknown

Annunciation Scene from A Book of Hours - 15th Century Artist Unknown
Cook Islands 1c Stamp Issued 1973

The Cooks Islands issue a large volume of decorative postage stamps, many of which contain works of religious art, particularly for Easter and Christmas issues.  This issue was made in 1973 - it was developed from a Flemish Book of Hours - these were books that were originally issued for devotional prayers for monks in the Middle Ages.  Many of these books were quite beautiful.  In this scene, and angel and a dove are shown visiting the Virgin Mary.

Jules Bastien-Lepage - Rural Love

Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884)  - Rural Love (1882)
16K Russian Stamp issued 1973
Held at the Pushkin Museum Moscow

Bastien-Lepage is best known for his beautifully detailed naturalist paintings that depicted rural scenes in France in the 19th Century.  His works lean towards impressionism, while also maintaining focus on realistic scenes with good framing and composition.  The artist's most famous work is Joan of Arc, with it's spooky setting of translucent saints hiding in the depths of a French garden.

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin - Still Life with Attributes of the Arts

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin  (1699-1779)  - Still Life with Attributes of the Arts (1766)

Russia Stamp issued 1973

Held at the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

This modest still life makes for a rather ordinary stamp.  Issued by Russia in 1973, this is another work by Chardin, who was a great French Rococo era painter.  His works are held in galleries all over the work, including the Louvre inParis and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.  

Other Russian stamps have also been issued with Chardin's work: Saying Grace - Chardin.

Brulloff Karl - Midday

 Карл Павлович Брюллов  Karl Briullov (1799-1852) - Midday (1831)

Russia Stamp Issued 1973

The Russian Museum, St Petersburg

This Russian painter of French descent was highly successful and popular in his day, with his work being quite significant as is documents the transition from neoclassicism to romanticism in Russian painting.  

Briullov also gained success in Italy, particularly when he began doing historical works, such as the Last Days of Pompeii.  

Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov - Oh, Father's Dinner

Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov (1780-1847) - Oh, Father's Dinner  (1825) - 

Russia Stamp issued 1973

Tretyakov Gallery Moscow

Born of Greek parents in Moscow, Venetsianov had a passion for art from a young age, although he was a public servant at the commencement of his working life.

His artwork was reknown for dpictions of peasant life in Russia in the early 19th Century. He maintained a group of friends who were also talented artists from modest backgrounds - none of them initially attained power in the art world, due to their lack of formal art training, but Venesianov was appointed as a court painter by Nicholas I at the latter stages of his life.

The artist reportedly died when he was aboard a horse driven carriage that fell down a steep slope.

Charles Le Brun - Femme A Genoux

Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) - Femme A Genoux or Nude Woman Kneeling (c. 1650)
First Day Cover - France Stamp issued 1973
Drawing held at the Louvre Museum Paris

This drawing was meant to be part of a larger work, where a young girl sinner was being struck down by a bolt of lightning by Jesus Christ.  

Charles Le Brun was one of the dominant forces of French Art in the 17th century.  He worked with royalty in parts of Europe and took joint control of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris in the mid 1600s.  Industrial arts grew immensely at this time, and Le Brun was one of the leading influences on the Loius XIV style of furnishing that was developed during this time.

Towards the latter years of his life, he was an academic and he completed a series of famous paintings depicting Alexander the Great.

Alessandro Botticelli - Adoration of the Magi.

Alessandro Botticelli - Adoration of the Magi. 

Dominica 1c Stamp Issued 1973

Painting completed c.1475. 

Painting held at Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy

This stamp was developed from Botticelli's most famous work, being "Adoration of the Magi".  The stamp itself does not include the entire painting, as only the central part of the painting has been captured.  The entire painting contains more details of this gathering, where the manger has been set up in the ruins of a Roman style temple.  The figures at the front of the painting are clothed in rich garments in the original painting.

Henry Raeburn - Self Portrait

Self Portrait

By Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823)

Painted 1815

National Gallery of Scotland Edinburgh

GB 5p Stamp Issued 1973

Sir Joshua Reynolds - Self Portrait

Self Portrait

By Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)

Painted 1780

Royal Acedemy of Arts London

GB Stamp 3p Issued 1973

Sir Joshua Reynolds - Nelly O'Brien

Nellie O'Brien

By Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)

Painted 1762-4

Wallace Collection London

GB 7.5p Stamp Issued 1973

Sir Joshua Reynolds is best known for his portrait paintings of the rich and famous.  He studied the Old Masters of painting in Italy from 1749-1752, before becoming famous for his Grand Style portraits which aimed at portraying idealised versions of imperfect people.  He commanded expensive fees at the height of his career, and he was knighted by King George III in 1769.

Henry Raeburn - Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch

Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch (1795) - Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823)

British Stamp GB Issued 1973

National Gallery of Scotland Edinburgh