The Neapolitan Nativity scenes (Presepio)

The Nativity scene
The presepe is composed of figurines mostly of the XVIIth century. Intricate artwork presents ordinary people as main characters of the scene on a par with the Holy Family. All the scenic pictures of the city life and surrounding realities appear in this presepe while the Nativity withdraws to the background.
Nativity scene "The second tableau of Moors"
Figurines within the presepio are dated to the XVIIIth century and attributed to the school of Lorenzo Vaccaro and Lorenzo Mosca. The terracotta scared horse and camel are the key items executed by craftsman N. Vassallo. Six miniature sculptures of presepio characters wearing various clothers are composed around them.
Nativity scene "Greens market"
Common people wearing national costumes are posing here against a busy market. The figurines and furnishings are made of painted wax or terracotta with detailed representation of each fragment. Among very talanted craftsmen - makers of remarkable wax tableaus - Giuseppe De Luca and Francesco Gallo are worthy of note.
Nativity scene "The Annunciation to the shepherds"
Texture and finishing of the figurines are typical of the style and manner of Francesco Celebrano (1729-1814), Neapolitan sculptor, who has been a court craftsman since 1770 and two years later became a chief modeller of the Royal Porcelain works of Ferdinand IV de Bourbon of Naples.
Nativity scene "Tavern"
Tavern is one of the main symbols within the Neapolitan Presepio as being a place where Mary and Joseph were refused a room as well as a scene for presenting Christmas festive celebrations.
Nativity scene "The first tableau of Moors"
The presepio presents figures of Moors of the XVIIIth century, wearing, however, clothes, sewn of modern fabrics from the San Leucio factory. One of the personages was crafted by Nicola Somma, the camels are considered to be executed in the workshop of the brothers Saverio and Nicola Vassallo.
Nativity scene "Textile market"
The presepio presenting a textile market can be called something like contribution to the fame or glorification of the Bourbon dynasty, under the reign of which the Royal factory of San Leucio has become one of the leading textile factories in the kingdom.

December, 20, 2010 – March, 15, 2011

the Front Hall of the Armoury Chamber

Organized by:: the Moscow Kremlin Museums, Royal Palace of Caserta

1# The Nativity scene The opening of the exhibition is timed to New Year and Christmas holidays – the beginning of the year 2011, which has been declared the Year of Italian Language and Culture in Russia. The project is to become the first event within the cross-cultural collaborative programme intended to mark a long and lively tradition of exchanges between Italy and Russia.

Nativity scenes, or crèche, Presepio or Presepe, derived from the Latin word presepium, meaning manger, have been crafted both in Italy and in Russia, but the Russian Presepio, so-called Vertep, appeared in the late XVIIIth century and gained its popularity as an animated puppet show rather than a sculptural composition with static figurines. The exhibition explores the tradition of Presepio making in Italy, the country where the earliest nativity scenes have been introduced to the vast cycle of Christmas customs by Saint Francis of Assisi. By the end of the XVIIIth century, thanks to the patronage of King Charles the III, the art of the Presepio was in its golden age. With time the Presepio, having been intended for sacral religious ceremonies in churches, became popular among the nobility and later on turned into a folk custom for people all over the world.

In Naples this tradition, having lost its former use in churches and patrician homes, gradually extended to all the social classes acquiring any typically popular character. The life sized wooden religious Nativity scenes had evolved into animated and expressive miniature figurines - the art form with mixture of sculpting, painting and tailoring. Nowadays the Neapolitan Presepio is probably the Naples most widely known Christmas tradition.

Nativity scenes from the Royal Palace of Caserta are composed of mobile hand-made figurines by craftsmen of the House of Bourbon. For the first time our visitors can observe the most celebrated tableaus of Christ's Nativity, including the Annunciation to the shepherds, Tavern scene, Mauritanian carnival, Greens market, Textile market. All the sculptured compositions serve as detailed spectacular miniature replicas of the XVIIIth century everyday life in Naples. Each of the exposed scenes, being both a remarkable work of art and an ethnographical relic, reveals the beauty and splendour of the Neapolitan Presepio.