Roma a Pietroburgo
Rome in Petersburg
Our guests are welcome to enjoy a free visit of the exhibit.
The Ragland Mansion is holding an exhibit showing Rome through the eyes of its 17th to 19th century painters, engravers and water colorists. The main building has been re-decorated to display painted or engraved 17th and 18th century Vedute of Rome attributed to Viviano Codazzi, Giambattista Piranesi, Giovanni Volpato, etc., as well as a selection of 19th century paintings, drawings and acquerelli of Rome by Ettore Roesler-Franz, Mariano de Franceschi, Stefano Donadoni, and others.
The exhibit is focused on Roma Sparita, the old Rome that disappeared when 19th century modernizers and later dictator Mussolini razed entire quarters. Another aspect of old Rome vanished when archaeologists started digging in and around the Forum, thereby removing existing architecture and the sediments of millennia. The losses continue today through theft, vandalism and underground construction.
A variety of Italian furnishings and objects from the 15th to the 20th century are also on display.
The exhibit includes over 50 original Roman and Italian pictures, furnishings and objects, plus an ample documentation consisting of reproductions, maps, art publications and catalogs.
Starting point of the tour is a large 16th/17th century map of Rome inside the Aurelian walls which shows that in those days over half of the area of former imperial Rome was devoted to agriculture because the city had lost nine tenth
of its population during the Middle Ages.
The exhibit is centered on what happened when the city started growing from some 100,000 inhabitants in the 17th century to over 3 million today, burying much of the famous Roman landscape under highrisers, concrete and asphalt.
Faces at an exhibition: an 18th century angel painted on cardboard: arte povera, and...
...a piece of sweet Victoriana from Rome.
A terracotta christchild under a carved Roman canopy is flanked by a piece of silk brocade woven on an antique wooden Jacquard loom
A zeffiro, a winged 18th century angel with a solemn face.
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Our December 2002 Neapolitan Nativity
Italian Christmas
This year's Christmas season at Ragland will focus on Italian traditions by
displaying a Neapolitan nativity with
the figures and paraphernalia of 17th and 18th century street and market life in Naples
which was once Europe's largest and probably also its busiest city.
This period was the heyday of the Kingdom of Naples' popular art, the "presepe partenopeo", the Neapolitan nativity. It consisted of three main elements:
L'Annuncio -- the announcement, showing the angel appearing on Earth
Il Mistero -- the mystery: the birth of the Redeemer and the adoration
Il Diversorium -- the everyday life going on around the hostel which refused to offer shelter to the holy couple,
the animals in the stable, and all the actors and passers-by in their
traditional Neapolitan garb.
The shepherd who blows into the fire; the shepherd with the little goat on his arm; the "Benino", a sleeping shepherd, the "zampognaro" who plays the bagpipe, the three oriental kings, and many more.
A fishmonger sells his seafood, others are selling their fruit, vegetables and bread
while the butcher is busy cutting the meat. All of this is embedded in fanciful and romantic Neapolitan architectural scenes.
Tradition has it that the Neapolitan nativity figures, formed in clay and burnt
to terracotta, owe their origin to devotional images of the Greek goddess of agriculture, Demeter, adored by the ancient Neapolitans.
The popular or vernacular nativity was invented by Saint Francis of Assisi to solicit more popular participation in the Christmas celebrations.
Still today, in December, the quarter of San Gregorio Armeno becomes a busy Christmas market with dozens of small stores and open air stands selling material for nativities.
In many families, old nativities have been handed down from generation to generation. Some 18th century "palazzi" in Naples and Sicily still retain a special room reserved for a permanently installed nativity which is original to the house and dusted once every ten years or so.
Ragland, unfortunately, cannot afford this luxury but we are happy to have a small Neapolitan nativity on loan from Italy, for one Christmas only.
To see some old museum-quality nativities please click here, and then on "Foto". Clicking on a thumbnail image will enlarge it.
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