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According to an account from 1286, this wooden votive sculpture miraculously drifted by sea to Venice, coming ashore near the church of San Marziale where it has been venerated ever since. Upon its arrival, the sculpture was immediately credited with miracles and became an object of great devotion throughout the city: the confraternity of Santa Maria delle Grazie was founded in its honor. When the church of San Marziale was rebuilt in the late 17th century, the sculpture was placed on its own altar, complete with a marble altar front relief depicting the Madonna’s story. This narrative also appears in the ceiling canvases painted by Sebastiano Ricci between 1699 and 1701.

Save Venice’s conservation of this legendary treasure led to remarkable discoveries. New studies have indicated that the San Marziale Madonna belongs to a group of late 13th-century artworks created by unknown sculptors from Italy’s Valle d’Aosta mountain region. During treatment, conservator Enrica Colombini uncovered original decoration beneath layers of clumsy repainting, and she removed a non-original cork insert that had been added to the sculpture, thus deforming the Virgin’s bodice and changing her proportions. Sections of painted jewels are now visible on the Byzantine style throne. The Virgin’s robe, which had originally been gilt with silver, is now a shiny black due to the permanent oxidation of the original material. Red lacquer decorations were discovered on the Christ Child’s robe as well as on the Virgin’s bodice. The Virgin’s original complexion was also restored from beneath clumsy tempera overpainting that had been used to mask the misguided conservation treatment undertaken in the 1950s. Read More.