2356) "Pieta mit Kreuz" ("Pieta and Cross"), Austria: The first ever Stamp issued on Glass anywhere in the world by a Postal Administration: A Stamp of 6.30 Euro issued by Osterreichsche Post (Austrian Post): Date of Stamp issue: 10.06.2016:
The Pietà by Michelangelo (1498-1499):
The Pietà is a key work of Italian Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti, now in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.
It is the first of a number of works of the same subject by the artist.
The statue was commissioned for the French Cardinal Jean de Bilhères, who was the French ambassador in Rome.
The sculpture, in Carrara marble, was made for the cardinal's funeral monument, but was moved to its current location, the first chapel on the north side after the entrance of the basilica, in the 18th century. It is the only piece Michelangelo ever signed.
This famous work of art depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion. Michelangelo's interpretation of the Pietà is unprecedented in Italian sculpture. It is an important work as it balances the Renaissance ideals of classical beauty with naturalism.
In 2019, a small terracotta figure identified as a model for the final sculpture was displayed in Paris.
The sculpture:
The structure is pyramidal, and the vertex coincides with Mary's head. The statue widens progressively down the drapery of Mary's dress, to the base, the rock of Golgotha.
The figures are quite out of proportion, owing to the difficulty of depicting a fully-grown man cradled full-length in a woman's lap. Much of Mary's body is concealed by her monumental drapery, and the relationship of the figures appears quite natural.
Michelangelo's interpretation of the Pietà was far different from those previously created by other artists, as he sculpted a young and beautiful Mary rather than an older woman around 45 years of age.
The marks of the Crucifixion are limited to very small nail marks and an indication of the wound in Jesus' side.
Christ's face does not reveal signs of the Passion. Michelangelo did not want his version of the Pietà to represent death, but rather to show the "religious vision of abandonment and a serene face of the Son," thus the representation of the communion between man and God by the sanctification through Christ.
When Michelangelo set out to create his Pietà, he wanted to create a work he described as "the heart's image".
The making of the first ever Glass Stamp anywhere in the world:
Glass Painting Museum of Sandl ("Hinterglasmuseum Sandl"):
Sandl, Oberösterreich, Österreich (Austria):
More than 140 pieces of art exhibited in the museum, give an insight into the fascinating history of glass painting.
Exhibits include an authentic place of work featuring two life-size puppets dressed as glass painters. The museum provides plenty of information about the history of glass, old glass painting techniques and family registers of the most popular glass painting dynasties. Courses and seminars are available as well.
During the 19th century the colorful glass paintings made in Sandl were sold door to door by traveling merchants within the entire Austrian Monarchy.
This Glass Stamp is the first stamp ever issued on glass which has been a coordinated effort of "Pieta mit Kreuz" ("Pieta with Cross") of the Hinterglasmuseum Sandl and Osterreichsche Post.
Glass Stamp – Pietà and Cross:
With this Glass stamp Austrian Post presented a very special, exclusive stamp and once again showed a great deal of innovative spirit when it comes to stamp design – till the time of issue of this stamp, no stamp valid for franking had ever been made out of glass anywhere in the world.
The glass stamp shows one of the famous “Sandlbilder”: a reverse glass painted Pietà from the Upper Austrian municipality of Sandl.
In reverse glass painting the design is painted on the back of the glass, enabling the front to be cleaned easily, which was a big advantage in the smoke-filled farmhouse parlours of yesteryear.
There is a long tradition of reverse glass painting in Sandl.
This is because there were many glass works in the nearby Bohemian forests, from which sheets of glass could be acquired easily and cheaply.
Glass painting provided peasant families with a welcome additional source of income; during the winter the whole family worked together to produce the mostly religious designs step by step, each member of the family having his or her own particular task e.g. painting in the outlines or filling in the coloured areas.
The traditional design of the Pietà (also known as a "Vesperbild" in German) dates back to the 14th century.
It shows the Virgin Mary weeping over the dead body of her crucified son, Jesus. She is usually depicted alone, cradling the body of her son in her arms.
The subject of the "Mother of Sorrows" probably came to Sandl via the devotional images which were supposed to remind believers of Christ’s suffering.
The reverse glass painting used in this glass stamp comes from the last quarter of the 19th century.
The painters are unknown – as was usual, the work was a collaborative effort.
Particularly noteworthy aspects are the bold colours and the expressive brush strokes, which strongly emphasise Mary’s pain and Jesus’ suffering.
The seven swords in Mary’s heart symbolise the seven sorrows of the "Mater Dolorosa", the ("Mother of Sorrows"), Mary, whilst the tendrils of flowers below the cross represent the hope which Jesus’ sacrifice brings to all people.
The Back of the Glass Stamp Cover gives a brief description of the Glass Stamp (in both German and English):
"The special edition glass stamp bri9lliantly lights the artistic motive and is representing the perfect combination of traditional handicraft and modern manufacture.
The Process of making the Glass stamp:
The Viennese porcelain manufacturer Augarten is responsible for the time-consuming production of the glass stamp.
Every glass blank was hand-crafted, with all production following ecological principles.
The design was applied to the back of the glass by hand using non-fading pigments and a special silkscreen printing process.
The colours were then heat-treated, thereby ensuring that the design is firmly bonded to the glass and giving the glass a particularly high tensile strength.
The high quality, mostly hand-crafted production, the unusual material and the traditional, hand-painted design all make this stamp very special.
Folk art and innovative production techniques were combined to produce a very special miniature work of art.
Product information:
Release Date: 10.06.2016
Number of Copies: 140,000
Print Style: Siebdruck hinter Glas
Design: Regina Simon / Bild: Hinterglasmuseum Sandl
Type: Block issue
Printed by: Neue Wiener Porzellanmanufaktur Augarten GmbH & Co KG
(The above Glass Stamp is from the collection of Jayant Biswas. Post researched and written by Rajeev Prasad)
Posts on Grimm's Fairy Tales on this Blog:
Links to posts on Austria and Germany on this Blog:
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Santosh Khanna has commented:
ReplyDelete"Very interesting informative post. Thanks."
Thank you so much, Khanna sahab.
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