Keeper of an important part of the Romanian treasure - ingots, coins and gold objects - the National Bank of Romania also possesses masterpieces of the Romanian painting.
The postage stamp issue that Romfilatelia introduces into circulation, “Art reproductions - Paintings belonging to the National Bank of Romania Treasure”, illustrates four paintings belonging to Nicolae Grigorescu, Eugeniu Voinescu and George Demetrescu Mirea, exhibited in the Council Chamber of the Bank.
Considered to be the great master of Romanian painting, Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907) illustrated within his works a symbiosis between the Realism of the Barbizon School, Impressionism and Symbolism.
In the period before his departure for Paris, he made religious paintings in Baicoi, Zamfira and Agapia Monasteries. From 1861, together with Auguste Renoir, he attended the workshop of Sébastien Cornu in Paris. Not long after, he joined the Barbizon School where he perfected his pictorial education. After 1890, the painter settled down in Romania and most of his paintings depict pastoral themes: peasants’ portraits, ox-carts, specific Romanian landscapes.
Illustrated on the postage stamp with the face value of Lei 3.00 is the master’s painting entitled Rodica. Painted in 1894, the composition presents a hot summer season landscape when people harvest the wheat. The main female character, who may be seen in the foreground of the painting, is a woman carrying a water vessel.
On the postage stamp with the face value of Lei 2.10 we are shown the painting called Marine, made by Eugeniu Voinescu (1842-1909). The painter studied literature and law in Cairo and Paris where he made friends with the Russian painter I.K. Aivazovski, a master of the marine landscape.
Between 1879 and 1888, Eugeniu Voinescu was the General Consul of Romania in Budapest, Constantinople and Odessa. In 1889, he made his debut with a public exhibition at the Romanian Athenaeum Salon in Bucharest. As a painter of marine themes, Voinescu was the most famous Romanian painter of his time.
Illustrated on the postage stamps with the face value of Lei 1.40 and Lei 7.60 are the allegoric compositions Mercury and Prometheus respectively, made by George Demetrescu Mirea (1852-1934). The painter studied at the Belle Arte School in Bucharest with Theodor Aman.
He took part in the War of independence (1877-1878) as a “frontline painter”, adjoining Nicolae Grigorescu, Carol Popp de Szatmary and Sava Hentia. In 1879, he obtained a scholarship in Paris in the class of Carolus Duran from École des Beaux Arts. Between 1887 and 1888, he painted the ceiling of the Vernescu House in Bucharest.
Among the important works of the painter G.D. Mirea we mention the mural decorations from the National Bank of Romania and the Writers’ House in Bucharest, as well as those from the University of Iasi.
