In Parma Vanessa Beecroft unveils the rediscovered Nativity

Vanessa Beecroft redesign the Nativity disappearance of Caravaggio: a magic that was accomplished there Christmas night. We are in Palermo, in a special place in the city, inside the Oratory of San Lorenzo, in the lively Kalsa district, in the historic centre.

Vanessa Beecroft, one of the most refined Italian artists (it’s hard to say Italian, because she lives far from here and doesn’t like to appear much), famous for her performances and her tableau vivant, living paintings in which he positions models to create a scene, he chose Sicily, and Palermo in particular, to show us his wonders again. In recent days, at Palazzo Abatellis, you have created a performance between ancient and sculptures and now in the Oratory of San Lorenzo, for Christmas he conceived an intervention that was unusual for her. A “simple” painting.

Here she is:

It really isn’t simple at all. It is a very intimate and intense re-reading of the Nativity with Saints Lorenzo and Francesco of Assisi which Caravaggio probably painted in 1600, a large canvas of two and a half meters by two meters which recounts the birth of Christ in a certainly more realistic way than we usually see in ancient painting. Our Lady is visibly tired, vaguely melancholic, with wrinkled clothes, while San Giuseppe, relatively young compared to usual, has a nervous manner and seems to turn abruptly towards a passing shepherd and San Francesco, while on the other side San Lorenzo observes the scene. Jesus is resting on the straw, sideways to the observer, we see the ox clearly but the donkey blends into the background. Much of the scene is stolen by the angel who glides from above, with his white scroll.

Vanessa Beecroft reinterprets Caravaggio’s Nativity in her own way: she takes the stage (and in fact we find her name borne by the angel, as can be seen from the detail below) and plays with light, shining the spotlight on the Madonna, who thus illuminated appears even more tired, and reflected on the child. She counts the fatigue of motherhood, she seems to want to tell us.

This unpublished Nativity by Vanessa Beecroft was necessary to fill a dramatic absence.

In fact, Caravaggio’s Nativity is no longer here. And not because it was given to some museum or sold at auction: was stolen on the night of October 17, 1969, and never found again. It still appears in second place of Top Ten Art Crimes of the FBIhighly sought after everywhere for its priceless value.

The review Nextconceived by the Amici Dei Musei Siciliani association, has been trying to fill this gap, at least in part, for twelve years, inviting international artists to create their own nativity scene in memory of Caravaggio’s stolen masterpiece (the work by Vanessa Beecroft, who is shown here we present in preview, it will be exhibited on the altar of the oratory until 8 January and then placed in the anti-oratory until 17 October 2023).

His art brings Caravaggio’s masterpiece back to life, updating it, but it seems incredible that there is still a thick mystery surrounding the story.

In fact, sifting through the documents concerning it, there are testimonies and declarations about the theft that date back to the 1970s and go as far as today: these are the words of the repent of mafia, that run after each other. There are those who said that the painting had been stolen and then hidden by a stable and gnawed by mice, those who said, only to retract, that the work was exhibited during the meetings of Totò Riina’s Corleonesi, those who self-reported having burned the painting, only to later claim that they were all lies.

There Anti-Mafia Commissionin May 2017, collected reliable confessions which claim that the theft was carried out by simple kids, who were then contacted by the super boss Badalamenti who would then resell the painting to a Swiss trafficker, intending to sell the painting in pieces after dismembering it. This appears, to date, the most credible and factual version of the Nativity of Caravaggio, whole or dismembered, there is no trace for 54 years.

We still have the photos of the time, certainly not in high definition. Above all, the idea of ​​bringing it back to life on Christmas day remains, through the eyes and talent of today’s artists.