COVER N. 311 - SERVIA

Postmark: Nis 29.08.2023

Posted on the  29th August; Received on the 6th September 2023

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One of the most common uses of stamps as a vector for dessiminating a country's culture is taking advantage of their inherent travel capacity to showcase national arts, be it painting, sculpture, film, photography, architecture... you name it and I'm sure there is at least a stamp somewhere illustrated with an example of that particular form of art.

The most common though must be painting, what comes as no surprise since the usual squarish format of a stamp lends itself perfectly to this end, and many are the sets issued by postal administrations graced with beautiful reproductions of amazing works of art.

I confess that sometimes it is easy to fall into exaggeration, with the paintings bordered by golden frames and legends that rival in eye catching capacity with the reproduced paintings themselves.

Not in this case. Thank you so much, Markovic. Great cover. Not only there's an aircraft on it, my favoured theme, but also the to stamps with reproductions of beautiful paintings are a great example of the classy sobriety I think the theme demands.

Stamps, left to right:

On 14OCT2022 Pošta Srbije issued a three 30 Dinar stamp set dedicated to the anniversaries of  three Serbian Museums, these being the 175th anniversaries of the Matica Srpska Gallery, in Novi Sad, and the Museum of Vojvodina, and the 75th anniversary of the Institute of Archaeology in Belgrade.

The stamp dedicated to the Matica Srpska Gallery  on the cover (Matica Srpska being the oldest non governmental institution dedicated to the arts in Serbia) is illustrated with the "portrait of Anka Topalović née Nenadović .... the earliest female portrait painted by a woman – the first Serbian academic painter, Katarina Ivanović" according to the gallery's website.

The second stamp on the cover was issued on 27JAN2023, and is illustrated with a painting depicting Petar II Petrović Njegoš (November 1, 1813 – October 19, 1851) ... an Orthodox Montenegrin and Highland Prince-Bishop and head of Old Montenegro and Highland from 1830 to 1851." again borrowing from the notes on the Serbian Post website.

the reproduced painting, dating from the 1940s, was authored by Petra Lubarda, and is part of a private collection.

The last stamp on the cover is dedicated to 100 years of the Serbian national aviation industry and is illustrated with the image of a Soko G-4 Super Galeb (jet trainer and ground attack) in the background and a Soko J-22 Orao (Ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft, a product of industrial collaboration of what was then Yugoslavian and Romania) in the foreground.

Postage on the cover was completed with a  7 Dinar label.