Taking the Votive Sculpture of the Madonna and Child in the Church of San Marziale, restored by Save Venice in 2019-20, as a starting point, art historian Nora Gietz explores the widespread cults dedicated to miraculous images of the Virgin Mary in early modern Venice. 

The first part of the talk discusses how, from the thirteenth century onwards, several sculpted and painted miracle-working images of the Madonna appeared in Venice. They were installed in churches spread evenly across the city and immediately attracted a following. Although differing in provenance and materiality, patterns can be recognized among the legends and myths surrounding the origins and histories of these images. 

Secondly, the relationship between Venetian society and the images is scrutinized. The miraculous Madonnas played a central role in the popular piety and civic rituals of the Serenissima for several centuries. These cults declined only after the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, when their religious, cultural, and political significance faded – and some were physically dispersed following the Napoleonic suppressions. Gietz argues that these Marian images were a medium through which the “Myth of Venice” found its way into the Venetian population’s everyday lives. 

Presented by Dr. Nora Gietz

Nora Gietz is an art historian and historian working predominantly on the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period in Venetian history. She is particularly interested in how this political and cultural watershed after the fall of the Venetian Republic affected the city’s artistic and architectural patrimony as a consequence of the widespread dissolutions of religious institutions. She completed her undergraduate studies in Modern History at the University of Oxford before moving to the University of Warwick’s Art History Department for her Master’s and Doctorate. She contributed to Save Venice’s celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Tintoretto’s birth with entries for Tintoretto in Venice. A Guide (eds. T. dalla Costa, R. Echols and F. Ilchman) and wrote the chapter ‘Lingering Glory and the Fall of the Republic’ for the recent Venetia 1600. Births and Rebirths exhibition catalogue (eds. R. Echols, F.Ilchman, G. Matino and A. Bellieni, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 4 September 2021 – 25 March 2022). 

*Offered exclusively to current members: Join or Renew

Unidentified sculptor, Votive Sculpture of the Madonna and Child (Our Lady of Graces). Late thirteenth century, wood with polychromy.