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at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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From the Crèche
[All images from the Met website]
Each of the figurines under the tree is apparently created by a different artist. The baby Jesus above is by Giuseppe Sammartino (1720–1793). He is with Mary, who is under the pillars (with the cherub flying in between). Joseph is standing behind Mary.
The Metropolitan Museum website has images of 233 artworks of the tree and the crèche, which includes the figurines and some of the designs that went in their creations. The very first page has descriptions of the figurines of the holy family.
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It is the Christmas season, and Christmas trees are everywhere, so I cannot help but comment on them.
Despite their name change (Eaton Centre calls theirs a "Wish Tree") and odd shapes (Dundas Square - across from the Eaton Centre - has mounds of snow made of wire that make a tree), they still give a festive air to these days.
Above is a tree I saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which seems to be a long-standing tradition at the museum.
It is hard to see all the pieces from the images above, but in front of the pillars are Joseph and Mary with the infant Jesus, and the various wise men (on horseback, camel, and elephant) are on either side of the family. Shepherds are there too, as well as angels. And many "ordinary folk" including "a man with bagpipes" and "girl carrying a basket of onions" amongst many others.
Here is more on the tree and the crèche from the Met's website:
The annual Christmas display is the result of the generosity, enthusiasm, and dedication of the late Loretta Hines Howard, who began collecting crèche figures in 1925 and soon after conceived the idea of combining the Roman Catholic custom of elaborate Nativity scenes with the tradition of decorated Christmas trees that had developed among the largely Protestant people of northern Europe. This unusual combination first was presented to the public in 1957, when the Metropolitan Museum initially exhibited Mrs. Howard's collection. More than two hundred eighteenth-century Neapolitan crèche figures were given to the Museum by Loretta Hines Howard starting in 1964, and they have been displayed each holiday season for nearly forty years. Linn Howard, Mrs. Howard's daughter, worked with her mother for many years on the annual installation. Since her mother's death in 1982, she has continued to create new settings for the Museum's ensemble and additional figures that she has been lending to the collection. In keeping with family tradition, Linn Howard's daughter, artist Andrea Selby Rossi, now joins her mother each year in creating the display.
