Women Art Definitives

On July 8, 1998, Italy issued the first five stamps of the La donna nell’arte (Women in Art) series of definitive stamps. It is generally said to have replaced the Castelli d’Italia series. The stamps were designed by G. Toffoletti and produced by the IPZS (the state printer in Rome) in sheets of 100. The IPZS had already drawn up a list of the subjects, probably in late 1997 or early 1998. Basically, the plan for the whole series was set before the first stamp came out.

Each stamp shows a woman from a work of art, e.g., Fanciulla Velca (100 lire), The Feast of Herod (450 lire) and Costanza Buonarelli (1000 lire). The other two show a female profile (650 lire) and The Lady and the Unicorn (800 lire). A 900 lire stamp based on a painting by Botticelli is believed to have been planned as well, though it was never issued.

More values were added over the next few years, and the euro made things a bit messy. Some values were issued in lire, some with both lire and euro, and some in euro only. By 2002 the series included values from 0.01 euro to 0.77 euro, and the 0.01 euro stamp shows Hebe by Antonio Canova.

Italian Republic, Page 2005.7 (GR-6)

Italian Republic, Page 2002.1 (GR-6)

Italian Republic, Page 98-99 (GR-5)

Note

The design of these stamps is very nice, especially the faces. What I don’t like is the contrasting colors of each. They would have done better to have used one color for all, or done the folliage of leaves and wheat grains in gray – or to have eliminated the garland.

As an Italian citizen, though, I’m very proud of this collection of reproductions of statues and paintings from Italian artists.

Next Album

spot	own	catalog	subject	description	comment
1.1	✓	2359	Young Velca - Etruscan tomb Women in Art	100₤ (jul 1998) definitive, multi-color
2.1	✓	2360	A Woman - Filippino Lippi Women in Art	450₤ (jul 1998) definitive, multi-color
2.2	✓	2361	A Woman - Pollaiolo Women in Art	650₤ (jul 1998) definitive, multi-color
2.3	✓	2362	Lady and the Unicorn Women in Art	800₤ (jul 1998) definitive, multi-color
2.4	✓	2363	Bust of Costanza Bonarelli - Bernini Women in Art	1000₤ (jul 1998) definitive, multi-color
3.1	✓	2393	Young Velca - Etruscan tomb Women in Art	100₤ (jan 1999) definitive, multi-color
3.2	✓	2394	a Woman - Filippino Lippi Women in Art	450₤ (jan 1999) definitive, multi-color
3.3	✓	2395	a Woman - Pollaiolo Women in Art	650₤ (jan 1999) definitive, multi-color
4.1	✓	2396	Lady and the Unicorn Women in Art	800₤ (jan 1999) definitive, multi-color
4.2	✓	2397	Bust of Costanza Bonarelli - Bernini Women in Art	1000₤ (jan 1999) definitive, multi-color

spot	own	catalog	subject	description	comment
1.1	✓	2584B	Hebe Antonio Canova	1c (mar 2002) definitive, multicolor
1.2	✓	2585	Syracuse Tetradrachm	2c (jan 2002) definitive, multicolor
1.3	✓	2585A	Queen of Sheba Piero della Francesca	3c (mar 2002) definitive, multicolor
2.1	✓	2586	Young Velca	5c (jan 2002) definitive, multicolor
2.2	✓	2587	Head of Terracotta Statue	10c (jan 2002) definitive, multicolor
2.3	✓	2587A	Danae Corregio	20c (mar 2002) definitive, multicolor
2.4	✓	2588	Portrait of a Woman Filippino Lippi	23c (jan 2002) definitive, multicolor
3.1	✓	2589	Lady with Unicorn Raphael	41c (jan 2002) definitive, multicolor
3.2	✓	2590	Antea Parmigianino	50c (jan 2002) definitive, multicolor
3.3	✓	2591	Primavera Botticelli	77c (jan 2002) definitive, multicolor
4.1	✓	2579	High Values	€1.00 (jan 2002) definitive, multicolor
4.2	✓	2580	High Values	€1.24 (jan 2002) definitive, multicolor
4.3	✓	2581	High Values	€1.55 (jan 2002) definitive, multicolor
4.4	✓	2582	High Values	€2.17 (jan 2002) definitive, multicolor
5.1	✓	2583	High Values	€2.58 (jan 2002) definitive, multicolor
5.2	✓	2584	High Values	€3.62 (jan 2002) definitive, multicolor
5.3	✓	2584A	High Values	€6.20 (mar 2002) definitive, multicolor

spot	own	catalog	subject	description	comment
1.1	✓	2721	Hebe Antonio Canova	1c (jan 2004) definitive, multicolor
1.2	✓	2722	Profile of Woman from Syracuse Tetradrachm	2c (jan 2004) definitive, multicolor
1.3	✓	2723	Queen of Sheba Piero della Francesca	3c (jan 2004) definitive, multicolor
1.4	✓	2724	Young Velca	5c (jan 2004) definitive, multicolor
2.1	✓	2724A	Head of Terracotta Statue	10c (jun 2004) definitive, multicolor
2.2	✓	2725	Lady with Unicorn Raphael	41c (dec 2003) definitive, multicolor
2.3	✓	2678A	Lady with the Unicorn Raphael	41c (jan 2003) definitive, multicolor
2.4	✓	2724B	Danae Corregio	20c (sep 2004) definitive, multicolor
3.1	✓	2726	Venus of Urbino Titian	45c (jan 2004) definitive, multicolor
3.2	✓	2727	Antea Parmigianino	50c (jan 2004) definitive, multicolor
3.3	✓	2728	Princess of Trebizonde Antonio Pisano	65c (mar 2004) definitive, multicolor
4.1	✓	2728A	Neptune Offering Gifts to Venice Tiepolo	70c (jul 2004) definitive, multicolor
4.2	✓	2729	Venetian Ladies Carpaccio	85c (jan 2004) definitive, multicolor
4.3	✓	2730	Venus and Mars Veronese	90c (jun 2004) definitive, multicolor
5.1	✓	2814A	Lady with the Unicorn Raphael	41c (jan 2003) definitive, multicolor
5.2	✓	2761	Primavera Botticelli	77c (apr 2004) definitive, multicolor

Footnotes

• Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).

• Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.

• Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.

• To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.