On display at Casa Saraceni is the rare and prestigious collection of nativity figurines made by Bolognese artists in the 18th and 19th centuries, acquired in 2007 on the antiques market by the Carisbo Foundation, which has averted their dispersion. Among the characteristic popular presences that animate the nativity scene - in which we see shepherds, artisans, peasants, housewives, angels and bagpipers, but also poultry and beasts of burden - certain peculiar figures, more specific of the Bolognese tradition, are easily recognisable, such as the "sleepyhead". The wise men stand out from the rest for the extreme luxury of their exotic costumes and magnificent horses held by the bridles by the pages. Some paintings and numerous engravings, with Christmas subjects, accompany the historical figurines. Among the paintings, the seventeenth-century large altarpiece, depicting the Madonna and Child venerated by the saints stands out, a masterpiece by Carlo Bononi, who was trained in the study of Bolognese painting of the Carraccis.
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