Neapolitan crèche

23 Nov 2024 — 6 Jan 2025 at the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, United States

8 October 2024

Restricted gifts of Mr. and Mrs. James N. Bay and Linda and Vincent Buonanno and Family, Crèche, Naples, mid-18th century. Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Restricted gifts of Mr. and Mrs. James N. Bay and Linda and Vincent Buonanno and Family, Crèche, Naples, mid-18th century. Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute’s spectacular 18th-century Neapolitan crèche returns once again this holiday season.

This crèche, or Nativity scene, tells the story of Jesus Christ’s birth using more than 200 painted terracotta figures staged in an elaborate environment inspired by 18th-century Naples. The upper register of the crèche contains the main characters of the Nativity—the Holy Family (Mary, Joseph, and Jesus) and the Three Wise Men, along with angels and shepherds. Surrounding them are scenes of Neapolitan daily life, including a raucous tavern, a bucolic pasture, and a street crowded with vendors.

These representations celebrate Naples as a cosmopolitan port city that included people from all walks of life. They also demonstrate the lens of exoticism through which many Europeans viewed visitors from other lands, non-Christians, and people of color. Though Naples had long been home to people from throughout the Islamic world, here they are shown as foreigners, confined to the biblical scene in the upper register and wearing turbans and billowing trousers that contrast with the rustic Neapolitan garb of the figures below.

Enlivening ancient biblical stories with modern costume and scenery is typical in the crèche genre and, more broadly, in European religious art since the Renaissance. By highlighting the vibrant social fabric of Baroque Naples, the crèche invites viewers to witness the miraculous amid the mundane and to delight in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Due to the fragility of the original silk costumes and exquisite embroidery, the Neapolitan crèche can only be on view for a few weeks every year. Don’t miss your chance to revel in Baroque artistry this season!

Art Institute of Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago collects, preserves, and interprets works of art of the highest quality, representing the world’s diverse artistic traditions, for the inspiration and education of the public and in accordance with our profession’s highest ethical standards and practices.

Location

Chicago, United States

Founded in

1879

The Three Wise Men, As a member of the Three Wise Men, Balthasar presents the Holy Family with an ornate vessel of myrrh, a tree-derived resin historically used as medicine or perfume. Beginning in the Middle Ages, some artists portrayed Balthasar as a black African ruler; this became more common after 1450 as the number of sub-Saharan Africans in European cities grew due to the Atlantic slave trade. At the time this figure was made, there were many black Africans in Naples, both enslaved and free. Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

The Holy Family, At the center of the crèche, Mary holds the infant Jesus on her lap beneath a humble structure made of twigs and wooden fragments. Her spouse, Joseph, stands behind her in a yellow cloak. These three are the only characters wearing haloes and Classical draperies rather than contemporary Neapolitan dress. Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

The Angels, In the Nativity story told in the Gospel of Luke, an angel appears to a group of shepherds to announce that a savior, Jesus Christ, will be born. Many more angels then appear, praising the savior and wishing peace and good will. Visualizing this moment, one of the angels above Joseph holds a silver scroll with the Latin phrase Gloria in excelsis Deo (“Glory to God in the highest”). Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

The Three Wise Men, As a member of the Three Wise Men, Balthasar presents the Holy Family with an ornate vessel of myrrh, a tree-derived resin historically used as medicine or perfume. Beginning in the Middle Ages, some artists portrayed Balthasar as a black African ruler; this became more common after 1450 as the number of sub-Saharan Africans in European cities grew due to the Atlantic slave trade. At the time this figure was made, there were many black Africans in Naples, both enslaved and free. Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
The Holy Family, At the center of the crèche, Mary holds the infant Jesus on her lap beneath a humble structure made of twigs and wooden fragments. Her spouse, Joseph, stands behind her in a yellow cloak. These three are the only characters wearing haloes and Classical draperies rather than contemporary Neapolitan dress. Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
The Angels, In the Nativity story told in the Gospel of Luke, an angel appears to a group of shepherds to announce that a savior, Jesus Christ, will be born. Many more angels then appear, praising the savior and wishing peace and good will. Visualizing this moment, one of the angels above Joseph holds a silver scroll with the Latin phrase Gloria in excelsis Deo (“Glory to God in the highest”). Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

The Holy Family, At the center of the crèche, Mary holds the infant Jesus on her lap beneath a humble structure made of twigs and wooden fragments. Her spouse, Joseph, stands behind her in a yellow cloak. These three are the only characters wearing haloes and Classical draperies rather than contemporary Neapolitan dress. Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
The Angels, In the Nativity story told in the Gospel of Luke, an angel appears to a group of shepherds to announce that a savior, Jesus Christ, will be born. Many more angels then appear, praising the savior and wishing peace and good will. Visualizing this moment, one of the angels above Joseph holds a silver scroll with the Latin phrase Gloria in excelsis Deo (“Glory to God in the highest”). Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
The Three Wise Men, As a member of the Three Wise Men, Balthasar presents the Holy Family with an ornate vessel of myrrh, a tree-derived resin historically used as medicine or perfume. Beginning in the Middle Ages, some artists portrayed Balthasar as a black African ruler; this became more common after 1450 as the number of sub-Saharan Africans in European cities grew due to the Atlantic slave trade. At the time this figure was made, there were many black Africans in Naples, both enslaved and free. Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

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