A postcard with a special cancellation “Letter Week” and a stamp featuring a reproduction of the painting “Reapers” (1820s) by Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov, from the series “The State Russian Museum in Leningrad,” was issued on December 25, 1968. Print run: 4,500,000 copies. Artist: German Alekseyevich Komlev.
The painting’s subject is very poetic. During a short rest, peasants—a mother and son—admire butterflies that have landed on the woman’s hand. The models were real people: serf peasants, a mother and son (Anna and Zakhar Stepanov).
We can see the boy in another famous painting by Venetsianov, “Zakharka”.
The artist presented “Reapers” as a gift to Emperor Alexander I for the Hermitage. Later, the painting was transferred to the State Russian Museum, where it is kept to this day.