Lightness of Being
Genella Ossi
Italy

There are nativity sets which desperately beg for surroundings to define them: a house, a landscape or a story. Others speak for themselves, and stand out wherever you place them. They stand tall and define their milieu. This is one of those sets. It was discovered by chance in Rome's Piazza Navona where it stood, dusty and forgotten, on the shelves of one of the many Christmas stands. What attracted the visitor was its lightness of being. Pale and aged, the colors don't have a life of their own but blend in discreetly with the overall stance of the figures. The movement, used economically, is mainly in the flow of the robes and mantles. It directs the attention to faces and gestures. And here is where lightness of being finds its true expression: in the twinkling of an eye, a hat worn cockily or tired with age, a moustache twitching with laughter. The deeper meaning is shown in the lightness with which simple but generously measured gifts of eggs, poultry and vegetables are brought before the child. And with a similar gesture of lightness of being, the Madonna presents her own gift to the three magi cum shepherds: her very son and God's gift to the world. She looks like a refugee from one of the many Raphael paintings, underscoring even more the lightness of being of the whole tableau.