Until January 20, 2019 Genoese nativity scenes of the eighteenth century from the Museo Giannettino Luxoro di Genova.
Also this year on the occasion of the Christmas festivities, the Bologna Museums Institution, in collaboration with the Study Center for Popular Culture of Bologna, promotes at the Davia Bargellini Museum an exhibition itinerary dedicated to traditional crib art.
The exhibition entitled “Genovese 18th century cribs from the Museo Giannettino Luxoro” and inaugurated on Thursday 6 December in the presence of Monsignor Matteo Maria Zuppi Archbishop of Bologna is organized with the Civic Museums of Genoa and curated by Mark Gregory D’Apuzzo, Simonetta Maione and Giulio Sommariva , with the contribution of Fernando and Gioia Lanzi.
Until 20 January, the museum of Strada Maggiore, 44, will be a container of the charm and magic of the nativity scene: next to its rich collection of polychrome terracotta statues of the eighteenth-nineteenth centuries, the largest in the city, the public will admire the two splendid crib groups dating from the second half to the end of the eighteenth century and coming from the collections of the Giannettino Luxoro Museum in Genoa, a city that since the first half of the sixteenth century has established itself as one of the most active centers in the production of figures from the nativity scene, next to Naples and Bologna.
The first group, in wood entirely carved and polychromed, is dated to 1763 and consists of small specimens that are a rarity, not only for the technique used, but also for the completeness of the composition, with the Holy Family, the donkey, the ox and male and female figures of shepherds.
The second one is composed of statuettes of decidedly higher dimensions, carved in wood, but then covered with cloth clothes, finely sewn, embroidered and finished, and accessorized with details of precious manufacture: in particular the figures of the procession of the Magi are extraordinary. a veritable parade of miniature powers, who had to manifest the wealth of their aristocratic owners, patrons and collectors.
The specimens selected for the staging – which is part of the series of exhibitions that compare crib schools in different regional areas, to document the extraordinary diffusion of this specific type of artistic production in Italy – can be traced back to the two main compositional variants represented in the tradition of the Ligurian capital: on one hand, wooden statuettes sculpted in the round and polychrome, on the other articulated wooden mannequins, partially polychromed, and covered with clothes in splendid fabric, reflecting the great Genoese textile manufacture.
Throughout the opening period the exhibition will be accompanied by a calendar of free guided tours and initiatives for children:
Thursday December 13th at 5pm
Tuesday, December 18th at 5pm
Saturday 22 December at 4.30 pm
Wednesday 26 December at 3.30 pm and 4.30 pm
Sunday 6 January at 10.30 am
Saturday 12 January at 4.30 pm
Sunday 20 January at 4.30 pm
