The art of the crèche developed early in the regions of Abruzzo and Campania. For Abruzzo, suffice it to recall the magnificent crèche of Leonessa (late 15th cent.) with its terracotta figures.
In the Baroque taste, the plastic art of the crèche was enriched with picturesque episodes even before reaching the characteristic complexity of the Neapolitan crèche of the 18th century. The technique of the crèche, in the pursuit of ever-greater naturalism, became varied and complicated. By the 18th century, alongside the rough characters modelled or stamped in terracotta or plaster and painted, there appeared more refined forms of figurines dressed in fabric (sometimes plastered and coloured), with faces and extremities modelled and painted or carved in wood (especially the hands and feet), almost always with glass eyes; while the body, like that of a mannequin, was made of soft iron wire, padded with tow.
The exceptional development of the Neapolitan crèche and the consequent creation of a specialized craftsmanship—from the secondary sculpture (in wood, cork, papier-mâché, painted canvas) to the numerous museums and collections, and the modelling not only of the figures but also of the infinitely varied animals and objects housed in the many picturesque corners of the scene—was due in large part to Charles III of Bourbon, who himself was passionate about the art of the crèche. Among the people, encouraged by the sovereign’s example in their age-old tendency towards the picturesque, the Dominican friar P. Rocco also helped to spread the habit of making crèches; he himself was the author of celebrated crèches.
The finest Neapolitan crèches of the 18th century are found in Naples, in the Museum of S. Martino, in some churches and in many private collections; in Rome, in the church of SS. Cosma e Damiano and in the basilica of S. Marco (from donations); in Italian and foreign museums of folklore and applied art, such as the Ethnographic Museum formerly at Villa d’Este in Tivoli and, above all, in Germany at Berlin and Munich, where one of the most complete collections exists. The artists who worked in Naples were very numerous and almost all of great skill; indeed, it may be said that Neapolitan sculpture of the 18th century found in this art its happiest expression. Some of them have been extensively studied by critics, such as Sammartino, Angelo and Giacomo Viva, Giuseppe Gori, Lorenzo Mosca, Giuseppe De Luca, Francesco and Camillo Celebrano; specialists in animal sculpture and still lifes were Lorenzo Mosca, Giuseppe De Luca, Saverio Vassallo and Giuseppe Sarno. In the 19th century, the art of the Neapolitan crèche declined, as it also faded in Sicily, where Giovanni Matera and Giacomo Bongiovanni had worked with genius. The popular custom of preparing the crèche for Christmas, however, remains widespread. In Rome, at that time, the sale of “puppets” for crèches in the stalls of Piazza Navona is characteristic. — See plates CXXXIV–CXXXV.