Una, nessuna, molteplici Madonne del Salice. Un’immagine e i suoi riflessi

In 1984, the image known as Madonna del Salice was stolen from its altar. No pictures of the Madonna survives: a paradox, for a print, born as one of many repeated images. In its existence, however, the image has left a serie of signs, sufficent to reconstruct its original appearence and its events. Unknown to early woodcuts repetories, her luck was that of finding herself in the right place at the right time, attracting the attention of Ercole Strozzi, a ferrarese nobleman who made her the protagonist of his image strategy. In a history made up of traumatic events, the Madonna del Salice was always able to find new ways to survive, adapting to the changes in history, in an exemplary story for the power of images.