2007 Christmas Stamp Unveiled

“Madonna of the Carnation” featured on 2007 Christmas Stamp


What:
Unveiling and First Day of Sale of the “Madonna of the Carnation” Postage Stamp

When:
Thursday, October 25, 2007
10:30 am

Where:
National Gallery of Art
West Building, West Garden Court
7th Street & Constitution Ave. NW
Washington DC

Who:
Yverne P. Moore, Postmaster, WDC
Alan Shestack, Deputy Director, National Gallery of Art

Details:
Formerly know as Holiday Traditional stamps, the Christmas stamps adorn millions of letters, greeting cards and packages each year. Since 1978, the theme of these stamps has been the Madonna and Child, and the stamps have attracted a devoted following over the years. The 2007 design features Bernardino Luini’s oil-on-panel, “The Madonna of the Carnation”, which dates to around 1515 and is now part of the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The stamp art is a detail of the work, as the image was slightly cropped on all four sides to fit the stamp format.

A viewing of the Bernardino Luini’s “The Madonna of the Carnation” oil-on-panel will be part of the stamp unveiling ceremony. Stamps will be available for purchase and a special pictorial postmark will be offered.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation, 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.