December 14, 2005
lecture and presentation of the book by Ricardo Fernández Gracia
CHRISTMAS IN THE ARTS
Historical Nativity Scenes in Navarre. Figures for the report
The Chair of Patrimony and Art of Navarre, with the sponsorship of the Government of Navarre, has published a study on the existing nativities in Navarre of the XVII, XVIII and XIX centuries, whose author is Ricardo Fernandez Gracia, professor of the department of Art of the University of Navarre and Deputy Director of the mentioned Chair. average The book was presented within the cycle of Christmas in the Arts, on Wednesday, December 14 at 7:00 p.m. at conference room of Conferences of the Avenida del Ejército. The publication is dedicated by its author and the Chair de Patrimonio to Jesús María Omeñaca, corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, who was for many years delegate of Sacred Art and always helped, without sparing time or dedication, all those who have worked on Navarrese art over the last decades.
What the book contains is an advance of a compilation of materials that has only just begun, since the task is long and difficult to carry out. The rural depopulation and the withdrawal of so many rural houses has brought as a consequence the loss forever of numerous nativity scenes, as it happened in the XIX century with the exclaustrations of religious. The figures and sets of nativity scenes included in this book are related to the Hispanic symbolic nativity scene and, therefore, have little to do with a world of dioramas, proportions and supposed historicism, characteristics of the great majority of present-day nativity scenes.
Navarre was no stranger to the spread of nativity scenes in Europe and other Spanish regions from the 17th century onwards. The nobility and, particularly, some religious institutions took great pains to possess outstanding sets, some of which have been preserved and today constitute a magnificent reference point for the art of nativity scenes in the centuries of the Ancien Régime.
The first three-dimensional montages of the birth of Christ, which is precisely what a nativity scene is, were those of the Discalced Carmelites of San José de Pamplona in Navarre, in the first third of the 17th century, and that of the Jesuits of the same city, in the middle of that century. The best example of those preserved is the monumental nativity scene of the Augustinian Recollect Nuns of the capital of Navarre, which attracted great attention on the occasion of the inauguration procession of the chapel of the Virgen del Camino, in 1776, in which it was publicly exhibited, being described by a contemporary chronicler as "very special, with very strange and perfect animals, which caused admiration...".
There are some outstanding works from the XVIII century, especially in showcases or shop windows, as well as a set in polychrome wood made by the sculptor Juan José Vézaz in 1825 for the parish of Mendigorría. Special mention should be made of all the Murcian clay imported in the 19th century, when the nativity scene became popular in the homes of towns and cities.
The history of the nativity scene in Navarre is part of a set of traditions around Christmas, which must be correctly interpreted as manifestations of the spiritual and cultural personality of a people, immersing itself in the soul of a human group and trying to rediscover a little of its identity, historically defined through multiple aspects in which its culture is embodied. Precisely for this reason, some nativity scenes constitute true cultural goods and can be specifically suitable as condensers of these values, due to their material and singular presence, since, in contrast to the incorporeal character of some cultural elements, the scenography of a traditional and popular nativity scene constitutes a physically concrete object, coated with a high symbolic value, which assumes and summarizes the essential character of the culture to which it belongs.
TEXTS