Jacques Louis David - Napoleon Crossing the Alps

Jacques Louis David (1748-1825) - Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1801)

France Stamp Issued 2008

Held at Chateau de Malmaison

David was an influential painter during his lifetime, as he depicted many paintings of contemporary events.  He lived at an interesting and formative time in French history, so his work was intertwined with the politics of France's influential leaders at the time.  David was devoted to Napoleon, even after the emperor's defeat.

Five versions of this painting was made by David, who was very influential in political circles with Napoleon.  Napoleon crossed the Alps in 1800 and David depicted this event, along with several other crucial events that occurred at the time of the French Revolution.  He also painted coronation celebrations of the Empire, before heading into exile in Belgium during the Restoration under Louis XVII.  David lived in a house that contained many paintings of Napoleon during his exploits, in Rue Fosse-aux Loups in Brussels.

Johannes Vermeer - Girl with a Pearl Earring

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) - Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665)

France Stamp Issued 2008

 Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Vermeer used expensive pigments in his portraits, including ultramarine - these contribute to a powerful combination of light and depth to his paintings.   He was a successful genre painter of his time, but he produced very few paintings - he specialised in painting exquisite interior scenes depicting middle class Dutch life.  Unfortunately for his family, he left a relatively large debt upon his untimely death in his early 40s.   

Vermeer was not particularly famous until the late 19th century, and his reputation has grown since then.  Only 35 paintings can be reliably attributed to him today.  

This painting was also the subject of a fictional 2003 film and novel by Tracey Chavelier, that tells the story of a fictional account of an affair between the model and the painter from this painting.

Quentin Metsys - The Moneylender and his Wife

Quentin Metsys (1466-1530) - The Moneylender and His Wife (1516)

France Stamp issue 2008 
The Louvre, Paris

The majority of Metsys' work depicts the life of merchants in Holland during a prosperous time in their history - this painting was completed when the artist lived in Antwerp at a time when the city was a trading hub for the Spanish and Portuguese.  The people in his paintings are usually depicted in indoor scenes, where there are clear indications of wealth - however, the paintings do not openly show extravagant wealth, as was usual for this time in Holland.  Religious overtones, include the scales of justice behind the subjects, providing insight into the ultimate judgement that each person must face.  The mirror and book on the table are completed to a high level of realistic detail.

Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa (La Gioconda)

Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa (1506)
France Stamp Issued 2008
Painting held at the Louvre Paris

Today is the 491st anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death.  This painting needs no introduction as it is one of the greatest works from the renaissance period.  

Some interesting observations/claims from Wikipedia:

• the painting was not named until 31 years after Leonardo da Vinci's death
• it only became very famous from the 18th Century
• the painting was commissioned for a rich Florentine merchant's family to celebrate the birth of their first child;
• six million people now view the painting, which is held behind bullet proof glass in a specifically built facility within the Louvre;
• it was one of the first portrait pictures to depict the sitter in an imaginary landscape and an aerial perspective;
• it was stolen from the Louvre in 1911 by and Italian employee, who tried to sell the painting to Uffizi Gallery in Florence, after holding it in his apartment for two years.

Leonardo da Vinci also influenced a number of artists of the renaissance period who have had their works depicted on stamps:

Albrecht Durer - Adam

Raphael - The Large Cowper Madonna

Raphael - La Belle Jardiniere

Le Lorrain - Sea Port at Sunset

Claude le Lorrain (1605-1682) - Sea Port at Sunset (1635)

France Stamp issued 2008

Louvre Museum, Paris

Claude was born in Lorraine, which was a separate province to France at the time.  He lived a life of poverty in early years, but he eventually went on to work for cardinals and then Pope Urban VIII in Rome in the late 1620s.  He died a wealthy man.

He is most famous for his landscape work, most of which are now held in England.  At the time, landscapes were not considered worthy of being depicted in paintings.  Figures were usually in all of his paintings, but they were small and usually painted by other artists.  An interesting article from the Sydney Morning Herald in 1929 outlines some of the key features of Charles Lorrain's life.

Giotto - Sermon of the Birds

Fragment of Sermon of the Birds c. 1302 - Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337) 

France Stamp Issued 2008

Louvre, Paris

Giotto is now regarded as one of the key artists whose work signaled the end of Medieval Gothic and Byzantine Arts towards the early Renaissance.  This is one of his most important works - one of a series of paintings depicting the life of St Francis of Assisi - these frescos are also subject to some dispute as to whether they can be attributed to Giotto.

 Extract from "Renaissance Art" - Chambers Library:

"This is a famous fragment of the predella of a signed picture, which the artist executed for the Franciscans in Pisa.  The aura of spontaneous intimacy - with the saint portrayed in the presence of birds which are not depicted in the manner of medieval art but are individuated- authenticates this panel."

Botticelli - The Birth of Venus

Botticelli - The Birth of Venus (1482)

France Stamp issued 2008

Painting held at Uffizi Museum, Florence Italy

This painting shows the goddess of beauty, Venus, coming to life after Zephyr has breathed life upon her.  Although the painting is clear and full of realism, it is also unrealistic, with an idealized coastline and Venus is unbalanced, with the wind blowing her in towards the coastline. 

Botticelli prodcued a large number of mythological and secular works, although he is also known for depictions of the Madonna.  This work was produced for the Medici family - he later went on to paint the family in his depiction of Adoration of the Magi.

Archimboldo - Summer

Archimboldo (1529-1593) - Summer (1573)

France Stamp Issued 2008

The Louvre  - Paris, France

This painting was completed in a style that is classically famous for this painter, as a portrait has completed from fruits and vegetables.  

Although his paintings have a lot of contemporary appeal, they are also interesting from a historical perspective, because they chronicle the arrival of new species of fruits and vegetables in Italy at the time of the Rennaissance.  This painting includes an ear of corn, which would have been imported from the Americas, in addition to brown eggplant from Asia.

Raphael - La Belle Jardiniere

Raphael.  The Virgin and Child with Infant John the Baptist in a Landscape

"La Belle Jardiniere". (1507 or 1508)

France Stamp Issued 2008

Oil on panel. Louvre, Paris, France

This painting was completed by the artist when he lived in Florence.  It is one of his classics, with a pyramid style composition, and the depiction of the virgin with classic female beauty.  The infants are cherub like, the entire composition fitting perfectly into the surrounding landscape.

This painting was one of nine that were depicted in French stamps in 2008.