ONLINE EXHIBITION | WORLD NATIVITIES 2020

23. NEAPOLITAN PRESEPIO

Giuseppe Ferrigno
Naples, Italy
Terracotta, wire, silk
2007 

This Neapolitan Presepio (Nativity) is the work of the Giuseppe and Marco Ferrigno company, a fourth-generation family business located in Naples, Italy. The Ferrignos own several shops on Via San Gregorio Armeno, a street known around the world by collectors of Nativities. The faces, hands, lower legs, and feet of the figures are made of terracotta, and the limbs were formed with wire wrapped in cloth, so that each figure is posable. The clothing was handmade and draped in San Leucio silks. Most of the figures have glass eyes. 

The Ferrigno family began making Presepi in Naples in 1836. The art has been passed from father to son since that time, and today the Ferrignos use traditional methods and materials to make Presepio figures and scenes in the 18th-century Neapolitan style. Most of the elements in this Presepio are traditional, including the Roman ruins symbolizing the end of the pagan world, the arrival of the three wise men, and two shepherd musicians (zampognari) with their instruments. At the top of the scene is Benin, a sleeping shepherd. Although asleep, he does not miss the miraculous Nativity event; instead, he takes a dreamlike journey to the grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem. 

Gift of William L. Starck and Adolph P. Falcón in memory of their mothers, Pauline Balt Starck and Caliope Papageorge Falcón

To explore Glencairn’s World Nativities exhibition Advent Calendar, click here.