Chrismas - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 2004 - 55 Euro Cent

The special stamps of the series »Christmas« appear with supplements for the Federal Association of the Free Welfare. The knock-on proceeds will benefit this merger of charitable organizations. The current Christmas stamps show excerpts from paintings by the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens. The stamps appear as motive-similar joint issues in Germany and Belgium. Rubens is considered one of the most important artists of the Baroque. He was born in Siegen in 1577, but spent most of his childhood in Antwerp. There he studied with several painters before moving to Italy in 1600, where he worked for clients from Mantua, Rome and other cities. As a respected artist, Rubens returned to Antwerp in 1608, where he founded an artist's workshop, where under his leadership important painters such as Anthonis van Dyck and Jan Bruegel the Elder worked. A total of Rubens today are attributed to about 2,500 works. Some of these paintings are exhibited in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. Peter Paul Rubens died in Antwerp in 1640. In the painting "The Adoration of the Magi", which is depicted on the postage stamp, Rubens painted the Christ Child brightly. All bystanders are caught by his light. The motif section comes from the altarpiece of the same name, which Rubens delivered to the St. Janskirche in Mechelen in 1619 and which can still be admired there today.