Tuesday, November 24, 2015

...the ultimate Christmas nativity...



I’m quite drawn to art that is layered and that is three dimensional. I love collage and texture. I’m always drawn to items in boxes. I’m drawn to details.


A crèche is a model or tableau representing the scene of Christ's birth. It's a common display this time of year. Since I'm Catholic, I think it's also a common display to have in homes. Over a decade ago, I gave my mom an elaborate Nativity that was displayed like a candelabra. I thought that was fancy... I had no idea. It completely makes sense that I would gasp when I walked in to see this crèche. I don't think you can tell exactly how large it is from the pictures. An entire gallery was dedicated to this and it completely took up most of the room. At the bottom of the first picture, you can see a shadow. That's a boy's head.






The Nativity displays have roots in fourth-century and by the 13th and 14th centuries they were a feature of Neapolitan churches. In 18th century, they underwent a transformation from relatively simple scenes to dramatic creations. At this point, the traditional parts of the Nativity began to include the everyday aspects of live from shop activities to even tavern scenes.


Churches weren’t the only places where one could see these types of crèches. Many wealthy citizens commissioned this type of work to display in their own homes.
 

Last year The Art Institute of Chicago unveiled a mid-18th-century Neapolitan crèche just in time for the holiday season.  Because of the fragility of the original silk costumes and embroidery, the Neapolitan crèche is only on view for a few weeks every year. We were fortunate enough to see it this year completely by accident.






The crèche is an intricate nativity which features over 200 figures all presented in a Baroque cabinet with a painted backdrop. Considered one of the finest examples of its kind outside of Naples, this piece is a beautiful addition to the museum especially during the holidays.  

Here is a somewhat blurry picture of my own recycled bottle nativity. My fella tucked Dracula in there a few years ago to be funny. I especially loved this because hiding an odd out-of-place figurine in the Nativity was always something that my dad did.

6 comments:

  1. Impressive! And to think it would had been in someone's house!

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    1. I know! That's completely amazing. I just hope that it would be in the house of someone who, like me, enjoys staring at her knickknacks :)

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  2. I am not Catholic, but that Nativity is very impressive, so I would have to take it if it somehow got offered to me, ha ha.

    I love Dracula in the other nativity! I wonder what present he brought! Hopefully not blood!

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    1. My colleague-friend with whom I went to Chicago with is an atheist. She was impressive by the artistic details.

      I think my fella was trying to make a commentary on the immortality of both Dracula and Jesus... if I recall correctly. He takes issue with organized religion. In fact, of all the weird stuff in my house, he only took issue with my collection of crosses and crucifixes. I have about forty and used to enjoy clustering them together. It's odd how THAT of all things bothers some people.

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  3. I'm not Catholic or Christian either, but that is truly stunning! You are lucky to have witnessed such beauty and intricacy on display.

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    1. Nah, you don't have to be to appreciate something like this. I roll my eyes at a great deal of Catholic doctrine but its the other features (the incense, windows, cathedrals themselves, etc.) that feel closer to my deity. But then, so do sunsets and nature so...

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