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In my collections I have found some beautiful stamps, both singles and sets, dedicated to The Four Seasons. The eternal changing between Spring and Summer, Autumn and Winter, are such a vital part of our lives that we hardly think about it, but simply take it for granted.
Most commonly known, is the Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), who composed the wonderful music of the same name. Vivaldi was born March 4, 1678, in Venice, and was trained by his father, a violinist at St. Marc's Cathedral. Ordained a priest in 1703, Vivaldi began teaching that year at the Ospedale della Pietà, a conservatory for orphaned girls. He was associated with the Pietà, usually as music director, until 1740, training the students, composing concertos and oratorios for weekly concerts, and meanwhile establishing an international reputation. From 1713 on, Vivaldi was also active as an opera composer and producer in Venice and travelled to Rome, Mantua, and elsewhere to oversee performances of his operas. In about 1740 he accepted a position at the court of Emperor Charles VI in Vienna. He died in Vienna on July 28, 1741.
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- Fragment of a painting by Michele Marieschi (1696-1744) showing the entry to The Grand Canal and the Church of the Salute in Venice, Italy, where Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" was performed to the public for the first time in the 18th century. (Scan from a CD-cover). As much as I know, there is only one stamp world wide by Marieschi, issued by Cuba in 1980, contained in a large set of art stamps by different artists.
- Italy 1975. Antonio Vivaldi.
Through times many artists have been inspired by the theme of The Four Seasons, and as early as in the 2nd century A.D. the Romans occupying the Mediterranean parts of the African Continent left their traces in these beautiful mosaics, featuring the seasons. The below stamps from Algeria feature Roman mosaics from the now ruined city of Timgad, founded by the Roman emperor Tajan in AD 100, and named in honour of his sister, Colonia Marciana Trajana Thamugas.
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Algeria 1977. The Four Seasons featured in mosaics from a Roman Villa, 2nd century A.D.
Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter.
Also the Italian Renaissance painter, Giuseppe Arcimboldi (1527-1593), was inspired by The Four seasons, and some of his most famous paintings feature the seasons.
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Being primarily a collector of art stamps, I take a special pleasure in showing you this lovely set of Polish stamps, dedicated to the Four Seasons, and created by disabled Polish artists by holding the brushes in their mouth or between their toes. An extraordinary achievement that deserves all the attention one can get. Unfortunately Polish Post has not given any further information about the stamps, but they are still worth looking at.
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Poland 2002. Paintings dedicated to The Four Seasons by anonymous, disabled artists.
There are plenty of stamps world wide dedicated to The Four Seasons, or the Cycle of the Year. Here are only shown a few samples with focus on art stamps, in order to inspire the collectors to set up some nice album pages.
You are welcome to download the images to your own computer for your personal use. If you do so, be aware that they will appear in the selected folder in much larger size than shown here