Series Christmas - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 2006 - 45 Euro Cent

The special postage stamps of the series »Christmas« appear with supplements for the Federal Working Group of the Free Welfare. The knock-on proceeds will benefit this merger of charitable organizations helping people in need. The current stamps show two paintings by the late medieval painter Meister Francke (about 1383-1436). The pictures are exhibited today in the Hamburger Kunsthalle. Little is known about Francke's life. Presumably, he studied theology in Paris and was also trained there in a monastic writing room. In medieval painting at that time a rather rigid style was common. Francke, on the other hand, preferred graceful and moving forms and is thus one of the representatives of the so-called "soft style". The oil painting »The Nativity« deviates from the biblical description in his portrayal of Our Lady and the Child Jesus. Instead Francke shows the situation as it has been handed down after a vision of St. Brigitta of Sweden (1330-1373). In 1372 she undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. There she is said to have seen in the birth-chamber of Bethlehem "that glorious child lying naked and shining on the earth."