PhD Program in Historical studies
Neapolitan Nativity scenes of the Spanish nobility (II)
In the Museo Nacional de Artes DecorativasThis museum contains the material culture of Spanish society, which enables us to interpret the ideas and values of its history. It is located in Madrid’s calle Montalbán. (National Museum of Decorative Arts), located in the centre of Madrid, a group of Nativity scenes is on permanent display, along with a number of luxury items and objects from daily life of Spanish society in the Early Modern period. Among them, the jewel in the crown is undoubtedly the Neapolitan Nativity scene (eighteenth century), which, not coincidentally, occupies a place of honor within the exhibit of the museum. In this case as well neither the names nor the aristocratic family which they belonged to, nor is the identity of the artist who built it in the eighteenth century known.
The most interesting and striking of this Nativity scene is made from the ruins of the Roman era as a backdrop to the various activities undertaken by individual characters (picture 1). The scenes of daily life are represented with unique realism and expressiveness, a good example of which is the bewilderment of a woman whose ceramic has just fallen on the ground or, in the same scene, the mother who is breastfeeding her baby. These were all situations far removed from the traditional Nativity scene and that in some way reduce the importance of some key episodes of the New Testament (the same as the birth of Jesus or the coming of the Magi from the East). Indeed, a characteristic feature of this Nativity scene is precisely the absence of such characteristics and traditional characters such as the Three Kings. There are, on the contrary, scenes that portray peasants, artisans, fruit vendors, shepherds, women who collect water from wells. Although it cannot be compared to the elegance and grandeur of the Belén del Príncipe, this Nativity scene is worth a special mention for the technique in the construction of the figures and the friendly atmosphere of the scenes. Finally, the play of perspective, another essential element of the Neapolitan nativity scenes, should be pointed out, with larger items forward and placed behind the smaller ones.