Romfilatelia introduces into circulation an issue of postage stamps European Art Gallery, Iași on universal fine art. The reproduced images are of paintings from the Iași Art Museum, displayed in a special space set up as the European Art Gallery.
The philatelic issue, consisting of four postage stamps, a perforated souvenir sheet and a First Day Cover, will be made available to the public and collectors on Friday, August 1st, this year.
The beginnings of the organization of an Art Museum in Iași can be traced back to 1846, when the 1848 revolutionary Scarlat Vârnav donated twelve paintings purchased in the capital of France to the Pinacotheca of Moldova, which were kept until 1860, when the organization of an art museum was officially approved. The National Pinacotheca, so named in 1865, had several temporary premises: the houses of Constantin Teodor Ghica in Copou, the Central School for Girls (today’s ‘Mihai Eminescu’ College), the old building of the Mihăileană Academy. In 1957 the Pinacotheca moved to the symbolic building of the city, the Palace of Culture in Iași.
On October 26th, 2024, on the premises of the ‘Moldova’ National Museum Complex, within the Art Museum, the European Art Gallery was opened to the public, a permanent exhibition of eighty works (painting and sculpture), arranged according to the criteria of national schools. The donated works are attributed to famous artists such as Peter Paul Rubens (‘Caesar Receiving the Head of Pompey’), Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (‘Pieta’), Pietro Liberi (‘Judith and Holofernes’), Eustache Le Sueur (‘Phaeton’), Henri Felix Emmanuel Philippoteaux (‘Berezina’), Philippe de Champaigne (‘Autoportret’), etc.
The European art heritage of the Art Museum has been gradually enriched through donations, acquisitions and transfers.
In 1963 the Pinacotheca in Iași received, by transfer, an important number of paintings signed by European artists such as Ricciarelli Daniele da Volterra, Félix Ziem, Peter van Bloemen, J. Cornelisz Droochloot, Johann Roos, Albert Decker and others.
In the five halls of the European Art Gallery, Iași, visitors can admire exquisite works of art from Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Russia and Poland.
The postage stamps reproduce images of paintings by painters Eustache Le Sueur (‘Phaeton’, postage stamp with the face value of Lei 3), Henri Felix Emmanuel Philippoteaux (‘Berezina’, postage stamp with the face value of Lei 5), Pietro Liberi (‘Judith and Holofernes’, postage stamp with the face value of Lei 8) and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (‘Pieta’, postage stamp with the face value of Lei 25).
The postage stamp of the perforated souvenir sheet (with the face value of Lei 30) depicts the work of Peter Paul Rubens ‘Caesar Receiving the Head of Pompey’.
It should be emphasized that the painting by Peter Paul Rubens is the most valuable painting in the national museum’s heritage, valued at over 40 million euro.
The First Day Covers reproduce two exhibits of the European Art Gallery, Iași belonging to the painting sections ‘Austrian, German, Polish, Russian Art’ and ‘Flemish and Dutch Painting’ respectively.
Romfilatelia thanks the specialists of the ‘Moldova’ National Museum Complex, the Iași Art Museum and the Iași City Hall for the documentary support granted for the development of this postage stamps issue.
