Young King with Two Pages
Artwork details
- Artist:
- Francesco Londonio (Milano, 1723-1783)
- Title:
- Young King with Two Pages
- Date:
- c. 1770-1780
- Medium and technique:
- Tempera on paper and cardboard
- Dimensions:
- 43 × 34 cm
- Inventory:
- MD 2018.190.001-061; 2022.202.001; 2024.209.001-005
- Location
-
Location: Works from the Diocese, Londonio Nativity Scene, first floor
Originally from Villa Gernetto in Lesmo, Brianza, the Nativity scene consists of around sixty cut-out figures painted in tempera on paper and card with lead-white highlights. It was made by Francesco Londonio (1723–1783), a Lombard painter who devoted his career to genre painting, specialising in pastoral subjects and scenes of rural life. The Nativity scene was created between the 1760s and 1770s for Count Giacomo Mellerio, a keen collector and owner of Villa Gernetto, where the artist himself had stayed. One of the few examples of its kind to survive intact, it was intended to be displayed in the villa’s main hall at Christmas. Recent studies suggest that the figures of the “Gernetto Nativity” may in fact have belonged to three “paper Nativity scenes”, probably acquired at different times by the former owners but all from the same artistic and historical context. The history of the collection before it reached the Diocesan Museum is readily traceable: it passed by inheritance from the Mellerio family to the Cavazzi della Somaglia family, who retained ownership until 2017, when Anna Maria Bagatti Valsecchi generously donated it to the Museum (inv. MD 2018.190.001–061; 2022.202.001). In 2024, three new figures and two scenic backdrops were added to Londonio’s Nativity scene through a donation by Raffaello Pini (inv. MD 2024.209.001–005). The Nativity scene is displayed each year at Christmas.
