Forever Stamps 2022 Virgin and Child – Holiday Celebration, First-Class Postage

First Day of Issue:  September 22, 2022
First Day City:  Boston, Massachusetts
Printed by:  Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.
Printing Method:  Offset, Microprint
Format:  Booklets of 20

US issued stamp to honor traditional Christmas figures. Design features a 16th-century oil painting by Florentine artist Master of the Scandicci Lamentation.

First Day of Issue Ceremony held at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, home of the original painting on the stamp.

In 1966, the Post Office issued its first Madonna and Child stamp, followed by an Angel Gabriel stamp in 1968. In 1970, they started issuing both Traditional and Contemporary Christmas stamps.

The 2022 stamp depicts a 16th-century painting by the Master of the Scandicci Lamentation from Florence, Italy. The original is housed in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

The Master of the Scandicci Lamentation’s Virgin and Child follows traditional painting conventions of the time, with Mary in a red dress and blue mantle, symbolizing her status, purity, and royalty.

The original painting, owned by various notable individuals, ended up in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts through a series of sales and bequests.