Danai Thomaidis is a Byzantine Art Historian specializing in the reception of Byzantine art, specifically icons, in the West. Her research interests focus on icon production and display in Venice and the Venetian Stato da Mar and on the relationship between domestic and public sphere in shaping religious identities. Further research interests include: cross-cultural interactions in the Mediterranean, Marian cult, Venetian colonialism in the Levant and its artistic production, sacred landscapes, the reception of Byzantium in modern times, art production in Venetian ruled Crete, Byzantine religious feasts and processions and the cultural physiognomy of Byzantine artifacts. Danai received her degrees from the Statale University of Milan (BA) and the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (MA). She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Venice and the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Her research has been supported by generous funding from the Leventis Foundation and the Swiss State Secretariat for Training, Research and Innovation (SEFRI). She has published articles in peer reviewed academic journals and has participated in international conferences. Before coming to Princeton Danai was a Postdoctoral fellow at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. Her current book project, The Life of Icons in Venice, investigates the production, introduction, cult and display of icons in Venice, both in domestic and public urban spaces. It also presents the first complete catalogue of Greek icons displayed in Venetian churches. Using a range of evidence, the book offers a history of icon perception in Venice and the Venetian Levant.