La Madonna della Pace dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo e alcune riflessioni sull’“afterlife” di icone bizantine nella Venezia post-medievale

This paper explores the reception of Byzantine icons in Venice, from the 16th century onwards, focusing on the way sacred images arriving from the East were presented to Venetian citizens. The main focus is on the Madonna della Pace in Santi Giovanni e Paolo, an Hodegetria generally dated to the 14th cen- tury, and considered one of the three most important Byzantine icons in the lagoon. Described as «antiquissima» in its translation chronicle in 1503, it carries from the East a long account of its past which links it to Saint John of Damascus thus placing it in the early 8th century at the latest. What is interesting about the icon is that once in Venice it soon becomes “the Madonna della Pace”, thus adding a new narrative and a new agency to its bios. After a brief presentation of the most remarkable results of the recently completed restoration, this paper deals with the icon and its re- signification in the Venetian context. Moreover, the Hodegetria known as Mesopanditissa in Santa Maria della Salute, and the small mosaic icon of the Virgin Eleusa once in the same basilica, will be taken into account in order to shed light on the ways these artifacts were introduced and comprehended in Post-Medieval Venice, and on how their lives, power of agency, and meanings were rewritten.