Exhibition
Coming from Villa Gernetto in Lesmo, in Brianza, the nativity scene is composed of around sixty shaped figures, painted in tempera on paper and cardboard with white lead highlights, and was created by Francesco Londonio (1723-1783), a Lombard painter who dedicated his entire activity to genre painting, specializing in bucolic themes, with scenes of peasant life.
The nativity scene was created between the seventh and eighth decades of the eighteenth century, commissioned by Count Giacomo Mellerio, passionate collector and owner of Villa Gernetto where the painter himself had been a guest. It is one of the few examples of this kind that remained intact and was intended to be set up during the Christmas period in the hall of the Villa. Already during the nineteenth century, the heirs had the shapes mounted within oval or rectangular frames which were used as permanent decoration for the halls of the Brianza residence.
Recent studies lead to the hypothesis that the figures of the “Gernetto nativity scene” actually belonged to three “paper nativity scenes”, probably acquired at different times by the ancient owners, but attributable to the same historical-artistic context.
The nativity scene has reached the Museo Diocesano through an easily reconstructable collection process: from the Mellerios it passed to the Cavazzi della Somaglia via Giacomo junior (1777-1847) who, dying without heirs, left his estate to the great-grandson of the same name Cavazzi della Somaglia. The nativity scene remained the property of this family until 2017, when Anna Maria Bagatti Valsecchi generously donated them to the Museo Diocesano.
On the occasion of Christmas the nativity scene is set up this year with the addition of seven recently restored figures and a background recently annexed to the 2017 donation.
