# 3003 - 1995 32c Traditional Christmas: Madonna and Child

US #3003
1995 Madonna and Child

• Traditional Christmas stamp
• Features art of influential Florentine artist

Category of Stamp:  Commemorative
Set:  Christmas
Value:  32¢, First Class mail rate
First Day of Issue:  October 19, 1995
First Day City:  Washington, DC
Quantity Issued:  300,000,000
Printed by:  Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Lithographed and Engraved
Format:  Panes of 50 (10 across, 5 down)
Perforations:  11.2

Reason the stamp was issued:  This stamp was issued for use on Christmas cards and other holiday mail sent during the 1995 holiday season.

About the stamp design:  The stamp is based on a 14^th century painting by Giotto de Bondone, an influential Florentine artist.  The original work is entitled Enthroned Madonna and Child and is owned by the national Gallery of Art in Washington, Dc.

Special design details:  In a break from previous traditional Christmas stamps, the word “Christmas” is not on the stamp.

About the printing process:  Most of the stamp was printed using offset lithography.  Only the “USA 32” was engraved.

First Day City:  The First Day of Issue ceremony took place at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, where the painting is located.

Unusual thing about this stamp:  When the US Postal Service unveiled their 1995 stamp program at the end of the previous year, there was no plan for a Madonna and Child stamp.  Instead, the traditional Christmas stamp would picture an angel.  There was a loud outcry from the public and politicians, including then-President Bill Clinton.  The USPS quickly reversed its decision.

About the Christmas stamp series:  By the early 1960s, the US Post Office was receiving 1,000 letters a year (for several years) asking for a Christmas-themed stamp to frank their holiday mail.  The idea was approved and the US issued its first Christmas stamp on November 1, 1962.
The stamp was wildly popular, featuring popular holiday decorations of a wreath and candles.  The Post Office Department had expected there would be a great demand for the issue, so they printed 350 million stamps – the largest print run for a special stamp up to that time.  Those 350 million stamps sold out quickly, leading the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to produce more stamps – reaching over 860 million by the end of the year.
While the Christmas stamp was very popular, it wasn’t without its detractors.  Some didn’t agree with the idea of the post office issuing a stamp honoring a religious holiday.  Others wanted Christmas stamps that were more religious.  The Post Office would continue to issue Christmas stamps in the coming years that featured the National Christmas Tree, seasonal plants, and an angel in 1965. The angel was considered less controversial because angels are included in many religions, not just Christianity.
In 1966, the Post Office came up with a plan to produce Christmas stamps utilizing classic paintings of the Madonna and Child.  These stamps wouldn’t violate the separation of church and state because they were a celebration of culture.  On November 1, 1966, they issued the first US Madonna and Child stamp in Christmas, Michigan.  The stamp featured the 15^th century painting, Madonna and Child with Angels, by Flemish painter Hans Memling.
That stamp was very popular and over 1.1 billion were printed.  The same design was used again the following year, however, the 1967 stamp was larger and showed more of the painting.  The stamp’s continued popularity led the Post Office to issue another traditional Christmas stamp in 1968, this time picturing the Angel Gabriel.   For the 1969 issue, they reverted back to the non-religious theme, with a stamp picturing a painting called Winter Sunday in Norway, Maine.
The Post Office made a big change in 1970.  To keep people in both camps happy, they issued one traditional Christmas stamp, picturing a classic painting of the Nativity, plus a block of four picturing Christmas toys.  That decision proved popular and they have continued to issue stamps with both traditional and contemporary Christmas themes ever since.

History the stamp represents:  The 1995 traditional Christmas stamp is based upon the work of one of the most influential painters in history, the Florentine artist Giotto di Bondone.  Created during the 14th century, in the latter part of his career, the painting, entitled Enthroned Madonna and Child, was executed on the central portion of a five-section polyptych, or altarpiece. In the painting the Madonna offers a white rose to the Christ Child. This exquisite masterpiece is now a part of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.
According to legend, Giotto was tending his father’s sheep one day when he began sketching on a rock with a sharp stone.  The famous Italian painter Giovanni Cimabue happened to pass by and was so impressed that he made Giotto his apprentice. Under Cimabue’s direction, he became one of the most important painters of the 1300s.
Considered the father of Italian painting, his realistic style revolutionized art and had a tremendous impact on the painters of the Renaissance in the 1400s. Giotto was the first artist to portray nature realistically, giving his pieces a true sense of light and space, rather than creating a flat image.  The figures in his paintings were also lifelike and endowed with convincing emotional qualities.