Francesco Londonio's Paper Nativity Scene at the Diocesan Museum of Milan

The Paper Nativity Scene by Francesco Londonio (Milan, 1723 - 1783), one of Milan’s 18th-century masterpieces of sacred art, is on display at the Carlo Maria Martini Diocesan Museum in Milan from November 25, 2021 to February 6, 2022. The Gernetto Nativity, named after its place of origin, Villa del Gernetto in Lesmo, Brianza, is considered one of Milan’s 18th-century masterpieces of sacred art. Comprising the work are 60 characters, painted on paper or shaped cardboard 35 to 60 centimeters high, most of which were painted by Francesco Londonio, among the most important Lombard artists of the 18th century, who specialized precisely in nativity scenes, country scenes and depictions of animals.

Originally, the nativity scene was intended to be set up during the Christmas season, occupying an entire hall of Villa del Gernetto, purchased in 1772 by Count Giacomo Mellerio (1711-1782), at which Londonio used to spend long holiday periods. During the nineteenth century, the Mellerio heirs, realizing the rarity of the complex, had the silhouettes mounted within oval or rectangular frames, which were used as a permanent decoration for the halls of the Brianza residence. The work, which entered the collections of the Carlo Maria Martini Diocesan Museum in Milan in 2018, thanks to a donation from Anna Maria Bagatti Valsecchi, comes from the Cavazzi della Somaglia collection, and is one of the few eighteenth-century Lombard cribs of this type.

The exhibition is also a cue to reflect on the origins of the nativity scene and its history and on a tradition that has become so popular and, in particular, on the so-called "paper nativities," which became widespread from the 17th century onward, with figures painted in tempera or oil on paper, cardboard and on wooden boards, and later also printed. These silhouettes, two-dimensional in themselves, once placed in space in an ad hoc made context acquired a theatricality and a kind of three-dimensionality, also thanks to the presence of a setting, a background, a system of theatrical wings, becoming in fact a real nativity scene. Francesco Londonio is among the greatest creators and promoters of this tradition in Italy. Later the typology of “paper nativities” also spread through the press reaching a very wide circulation.

The initiative is curated by Nadia Righiand Alessia Devitini, director and curator respectively of the Diocesan Museum of Milan, and is held on the occasion of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Diocesan Museum of Milan.

A Silvana Editoriale catalog accompanies the exhibition.

These are the hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Closed Mondays. Information: phone 02 89420019, website www.chiostrisanteustorgio.it

Francesco Londonio's Paper Nativity Scene at the Diocesan Museum of Milan

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