Renovatio and Divinatio : Mosaics in Venetian Painting circa 1500

Abstract This article examines citations of mosaics from the Basilica of San Marco present in altarpieces by the Venetian painters Giovanni Bellini and Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano. It contextualizes these intermedial references in light of the restoration efforts undertaken after a fire damaged the eastern end of the basilica in 1483, and the ongoing custom of divining prophetic messages from the basilica’s interior. Both practices were witnessed by numerous contemporary sources but are seldom considered by modern-day art historians. Accordingly, the article proposes a more robust historical link between Byzantine figuration and the peculiar coloristic effects of Venetian Renaissance painting.