AMPARO ESPINOSA RUGARCÍA NATIVITY SCENE

The Amparo Espinosa Rugarcía Nativity Scene was created when the Ashby family commissioned artisan Felipe Nieva (Orizaba, Veracruz) to create biblical scenes. Beginning in the early 20th century, Nieva crafted each piece, drawing inspiration from religious imagery.

The Nativity scene includes 50 biblical scenes from the Old and New Testaments, comprising nearly 1,100 painted clay figures in a figurative-expressionist style, depicted with intense gestures, polychromatic color, realism, and dynamism.

The collection has been exhibited at various venues throughout the country. Between 1956 and 1966, it was on display on Pomona Street in the Roma neighborhood, where Amparo Espinosa first encountered it; she acquired it in 1981 because of the emotional memories it evoked from her childhood.

Later, it was on display at the Museo Amparo in Puebla for nearly a decade; and since 2013, it has been exhibited in various cities such as Mexico City, Guadalajara, Puebla, Texcoco, León, and Spain and Uruguay, with a contemporary perspective in the exhibition “Nacimiento, miradas en el tiempo”.