Florentine Madonna Christmas Stamp

 

Members of the Eye Street Boys, a Washington DC area group, perform in front of the stamp image at the October 18 dedication ceremony.

 

The Postal Service has released Florentine Madonna and Child, a Christmas stamp showcasing a 15th-century painting that depicts the Virgin Mary gazing at the Christ child.

The stamp was dedicated October 18 at the National Postal Museum in Washington, DC.

Art historians have long sought to identify the artist who created the painting, which dates to circa 1470. Early in the 20th century, the painting was attributed to the Florentine artist Pier Francesco Fiorentino, but it was soon seen instead as the work of another anonymous painter who had created many paintings in the same style.