WASHINGTON D.C. — This Christmas stamp, one of the official holiday stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service, features Mary and the Christ child. The image is a detail from Flemish artist, Jan Gossaert’s 1531 oil-on-wood painting “Virgin and Child” from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Usps.com, the postal service web site, describes the image as, “Draped in purple and blue, the Virgin Mary supports her own head by leaning on one of her hands, an unusual pose that art historians see as a sign of sadness and contemplation. In her other hand, a curly-haired infant Jesus draped in white holds a bunch of red currants, which scholars believe are meant to foreshadow his future suffering.”
The stamp is being issued as a Forever stamp, equal in value to the current first-class one-ounce rate.
