Caltagirone, late 18th century, Bongiovanni Vaccaro workshop, Nativity scene figures with wood holder and chicken seller

Caltagirone, late 18th century, Bongiovanni Vaccaro workshop

Nativity scene figures with wood holder and chicken seller

Painted terracotta, approx. 30 cm high.

The two polychrome terracotta figures presented here belong to the renowned Bongiovanni Vaccaro workshop of Caltagirone and depict two characters from Sicilian folk life intended for the nativity scene: a wood carrier and a poultry seller. The woman, in a gesture of daily toil, carries a bundle of branches raised with one arm over her head, covered by a headscarf, while the other hand clutches more wood. Her costume, meticulously painted in shades of red, green, and white, reveals the workshop's technical mastery in rendering the drapery using thin layers of clay over the modeled body. The male figure on the right carries a basket of farmyard animals and holds a bird in his free hand, in a natural and spontaneous pose that conveys the dynamism of the popular market.

Giacomo Bongiovanni is considered the first great master of the Caltagirone nativity scene tradition, dedicating himself to the production of clay and terracotta figurines between the 18th and 19th centuries. He opened his workshop in 1794 and introduced a significant innovation to the traditional technique, depicting the drapery with thin clay sheets cut and arranged over the modeled bodies like authentic clothing. With admirable psychological insight, he captured village life characters in his terracotta groups, colored lifelike with tempera and oil paints: farmers, beggars, itinerant musicians, and nativity scene shepherds. Over time, he associated his nephew Giuseppe Vaccaro in the art, and the workshop thus took the name Bongiovanni Vaccaro, and the works often bear the joint signature Gia-Giu. Giuseppe expanded the repertoire to include cheerful themes learned during a stay in Naples, and the workshop achieved recognition throughout Europe.

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