The stamp features an oil-on-panel painting entitled The Madonna of the Carnation by Milanese painter Bernardino Luini (circa 1480–1532). Dating to around 1515, the painting is now part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The stamp art is considered a detail of the painting, as the original photograph was slightly cropped on all four sides to fit the stamp format.