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An ex-voto is a votive offering to a saint or a divinity, given in fulfillment of a vow (hence the Latin term, short for ex voto suscepto, "from the vow made") or in gratitude or devotion. Ex Voto: Votive Giving Across Cultures, (Ittai Weinryb, ed.), Bard Graduate Publications The term is usually restricted to Christian examples.
Ex-votos can take a wide variety of forms. They are not only intended for the invocated, but also as a testimony to later visitors of the received help. As such they may include texts explaining a miracle attributed to the helper, or symbols such as a painted or modeled reproduction of a miraculously healed body part, or a directly related item such as a crutch given by a person formerly lame. There are places where a very old tradition of depositing ex-votos existed, such as Abydos in ancient Egypt.History of Egypt Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent Discovery, L. W. King, H. R. Hall, Echo Library, 2008
Other examples may be large and grand paintings, such as Titian's Jacopo Pesaro being presented by Pope Alexander VI to Saint Peter, given in thanks for a naval victory. In Venice it became the custom in the Renaissance art for the higher officials, beginning with the Doge, to commission (at their personal expense) an ex-voto painting in the form of a portrait of themselves with religious figures, usually the Virgin or saints, in thanks for achieving their office. For lower officials only their coat of arms might represent the official. The painting was hung in the public building where they worked or presided.Lino Moretti, "Portraits", in Jane Martineau (ed), The Genius of Venice, 1500–1600, 1983, Royal Academy of Arts, London An example is the Barbarigo Altarpiece, a votive portrait of Doge Agostino Barbarigo with the Virgin and Child, two saints and assorted angels, by Giovanni Bellini (1488). This was made for the Doge's Palace but is now in San Pietro Martire, Murano.
The Ex-Voto de 1662 is a painting by Philippe de Champaigne (now Louvre), showing two nuns, one of whom recovered from serious illness.
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