On 8/29/2014 8:28 PM, Victor Manta wrote:
At the 24th International Postal Stamps Fair in Essen, Germany, May 8th
- 10th, 2014 a souvenir sheet issued by Germany was awarded the first
place, this after having won the same place at a similar competition in
its own country.

The awarded S/S shows a painting, one that is considered by many an
apogee of the Western art, the Sistine Madonna, by the Italian painter
Raphael.

More information can be found on my new page:

http://www.artonstamps.org/Countries...na-awarded.htm

Informative and interesting as always, but I noticed this:
http://www.artonstamps.org/Countries...ine-colors.htm
was later donated by the monks to Augustus III of Saxony. Source:
Wikipedia .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Madonna
That page actually says "In 1754, Augustus III of Poland purchased the
painting for 110,000 – 120,000 francs, whereupon it was relocated to
Dresden and achieved new prominence;[11][12][13] this was to remain the
highest price paid for any painting for many decades. "

You might add a link to the picture file page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:R..._196_cm%29.jpg

which in turn has a link to a nice large image
(3,028 × 4,151 pixels, file size: 15.2 MB)
which gives one about as good a view as one might get in the gallery.

The colors in these images, even the small one, are better than the top
left (Dresden) image on your page, which does not do the painting
justice at all. So I suggest you substitute the same size .jpg from
Wikipedia