Tradition and Propaganda in the Venetian Madonna della Pace

In 1503 a large icon of the Hodegetria belonging to the Dominican friars of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Venice, was transferred from the chapter house of the monastery to its own chapel adjacent to the cloister. The image was promoted as the icon before which St John of Damascus recovered his amputated hand, as a mediator in family disputes, and as an object of veneration by both Venetian Catholics and the Greek Orthodox community in that city. A series of polyglot pamphlets recording the history of the icon and its function as mediatrix par excellence further promoted the icon in the 17^th century, reinforcing the link the icon provided between Counter Reformation Catholics and Greek Orthodox immigrants in early modern Venice.