Nativity scenes are a central symbol of
Christmas, and making and setting them up kindles creative thinking and
artistic creativity. Today, this field is very well developed: there is a
permanent exhibition at the Museum of Nativity Scenes in Brezje, occasional
nativity exhibitions are held every year in many Slovenian towns, there is an
Association of Nativity Scene Lovers and the magazine Jaslice (Nativity Scenes)
has been published, which has certainly helped to raise the quality of
nativity-scene-making in Slovenia.
Every year, the National Gallery of Slovenia
mounts an exhibition of artistic nativity scenes by Slovenian architects,
sculptors and painters who have in the past dealt with the iconographic theme
of the birth of Jesus in various artistic ways, and the selection of the
nativity scenes is based mainly on artistic quality and artistic originality.
The question of which nativity scenes are artistic is a very complex one, the
answers to which can be discerned at different levels, since nativity scenes
have an artistic, an aesthetic and a spiritual dimension. The whole setting of
the nativity scene is shaped by the figures and the landscape, but in the
museum set-up the emphasis is not on the nativity backdrop but on the figures,
which are an essential component of the nativity scene. They can also be placed
independently and, through their artistic language, they elevate the aesthetic
and the spirit of the Christmas holidays.
The nativity scene for this year's
installation at the National Gallery was designed and produced by the
goldsmith, silversmith and restorer Christoph Steidl Porenta (born in Munich in
1965), and marks the entry into the Jubilee Year of 2023, which commemorates
the eight hundredth anniversary of the first nativity scene of St Francis of Assisi
in Greccio, Italy. Tradition has it that the saint wanted to symbolically mark
the feast day and on Christmas Eve in 1223, in a cave near Greccio, he set up a
live nativity scene with a donkey, an ox and a statue of the infant Jesus to
represent the event of his birth. During the midnight Mass, attended by
religious and faithful, a mystical vision took place. Today, Greccio is home to
a church and a convent with a nativity chapel, and St Francis of Assisi is
considered to be the pioneer of the nativity scene, which is why Steidl
Porenta's nativity scene goes back to the eight hundred year old spiritual
spring of the first nativity scene.
The sculptural representation of the nativity
scene or of the Holy Family can be seen in several of Christoph Steidl Porenta's
works, but there is always a miniature figure in silver that is integrated into
a larger art piece. A particular achievement is the reliquary of St Francis of
Assisi, which was installed this year in the Basilica of Mary Help of
Christians in Brezje, a complex work in terms of content, art and execution.
The reliquary is in the shape of a tree and features miniature depictions of
events in the saint's life, including the first nativity scene. The nativity
scene, which Steidl Porenta designed and produced for the exhibition at the
National Gallery, is also a miniature in silver, which emphasises the intimacy
of the Christmas event in a symbolic way. For this reason, he depicted only the
main protagonists - Mary and the infant Jesus, St Joseph, the Three Magi and an
angel. The Holy Family is placed in an illuminated circle, which represents the
intimate circle of the family, the green enamel base replaces the moss from the
traditional Slovenian nativity scene and is a colour symbol of rebirth, and outside
the circle is the desert. Mary is breastfeeding the child and thus giving life,
while Joseph is conceived in motion, as if he had come to see what was
happening and thus draws attention to the miracle of birth. The angel is not
depicted as a little putto, but as an archangel who not only announces but bows
down to Jesus. The Three Magi represent the world and people from three
continents who have brought the most precious things they have - gold, myrrh
and frankincense. However, the artist did not include animals in the nativity
scene, which are always present in traditional settings, as they do not seem to
be essential in the context of the emphasised intimacy of the Christmas event.
The nativity scene by Christoph Steidl Porenta
for the exhibition at the National Gallery of Slovenia is a symbolic personal
interpretation of the Christmas event and represents an achievement of artistic
craftsmanship in the broad context of the artist's versatile creativity. With
these nativity scenes, he has enriched Slovenian nativity art with new
approaches and linked it to the noble goldsmith tradition from his native
Bavaria, which he has been continuing for three decades in his studio Zlato
runo in Ljubljana.