Giuseppe Bongiovanni Vaccaro was an able craftsman of the renowned Caltagirone School. Nephew and pupil of Giacomo Bongiovanni, since childhood he was a frequent visitor to his uncle's house, which helped him to learn his art early.
He collaborated so closely with his uncle that he began to sign himself with both surnames.
Uncle and nephew became masters in the use of overlapped clay in the form of very small strips on the already modeled figurines. It was a technical innovation that revolutionized the art of working this material.
It was that plasticity of the clay in the round, synthesized in the naturalness of the gestures, in the expressions, in the softness of the drapery, in the realistic chromatic interpretation of the fabrics, that one appreciated the figures of Bongiovanni Vaccaro even outside Caltagirone.
The nativity scenes made by this shop enjoyed great notoriety among the noble and wealthy classes, so much so that owning one became a sort of indicator of the social rank of the owner.
