Restored in 2000 with funding from the James R. Dougherty, Jr. Foundation, through Beatrice Rossi-Landi, Trustee.

This sculpture by Domenico Gaggini (also known as Gagini) is thought to have been on an altar in the Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta on Torcello before being moved to the sacristy of the neighboring church of Santa Fosca. The work depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child, who has paused from nursing; he reaches upward toward her breast with both hands as she tenderly caresses his arm. The elegant folds of the drapery of her garment are particularly notable.

Marian devotion was especially influential in Venice — whose own origins are traditionally dated to March 25, 421, the feast day of the Annunciation — and representations of the Madonna therefore tend to carry civic as well as purely religious significance. The inscription on the base of this sculpture reads AVE MARIA GRATIA, the words of the archangel Gabriel at the Annunciation.

The original provenance of the sculpture is unknown, and its presence in the lagoon does not confirm that Gaggini was active in Venice, as it may have been carved elsewhere and shipped to Torcello. Native to the Ticino region, now part of Switzerland, Gaggini was active in northern Italy early in his career, in Genoa in particular; he then traveled south to Naples and eventually to Palermo, where he established a prolific workshop.

Conservation work was carried out by Toto Bergamo-Rossi and the Sansovino Restoration Firm, with the guidance of project director Adriana Ruggeri of the Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Domenico Gaggini (1420–1492)
Madonna and Child
1446-1448, marble
65 cm