Collection Online as of June 1, 2023

Navicella (recto) Two Drawings of Ships (verso)

c. 1410s

Part of a set. See all set records

Parri Spinelli

(Italian, 1387–c. 1453)

Italy, Arezzo, 15th century

Pen and brown ink (iron gall)

Sheet: 27.2 x 37.2 cm (10 11/16 x 14 5/8 in.); Secondary Support: 32.8 x 42.8 cm (12 15/16 x 16 7/8 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1961.38

Location

not on view

Description

Once attributed to the Italian painter Giotto (about 1267-1337), this drawing is the oldest sheet in the Cleveland museum's collection. We now know it to be a copy by Parri Spinelli after a mosaic Giotto designed for the portico of the church of Old St. Peter's in Rome.

Provenance

Giorgio Vasari (according to Richardson, Ottley, Kurz, Virch, Collobi). Jonathan Richardson Sr., London (Lugt 2183, lower right, in black ink); [his sale, 28 January 1747, no. 68]; Sir Joshua Reynolds, London (Lugt 2364, lower right, in black ink); [probably his sale, 15 March 1798, no. 967]. C. M. Metz, Rome and London. W. Young Ottley, London. [Sale, 11 June 1814, no. 622]; possibly Sir Thomas Lawrence (Lugt 2445, incomplete blind stamp, lower left); Samuel Woodburn, London; [his sale, Christie's, London, 12 June, 1860, no. 1230, as Giotto, Calling of St. Peter); Gase, Paris (from annotated sale catalogue). Marquess of Northampton, Castle Ashby; [Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd., London].

Citations

Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions Press Release,” July 20, 1961, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org

Schmitt, Annegrit, Bernhard Degenhart, and Giuseppe Fiocco. Disegni del Pisanello e di maestri del suo tempo. Venezia: N. Pozza, 1966. Reproduced: p. 22, cat. no. 15

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 57 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 57 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 65 archive.org

Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. Mentioned: P. 8, 18-21, 283; Reproduced: P. 19, cat. no. 1

Bresciani, Aristide."Brevi Cenni Sulla Tarda Attivitá di Spinello de Luca." In "In nome di buon pittore" Spinello e il suo tempo: atti della giornata di studio in memoria di Luciano Bellosi: Arezzo, 8 novembre 2011. Firenze: Edifir edizioni Firenze, 2016 Mentioned: 124-125; Reproduced: p. 124

Bresciani, Aristide. Spinello di Luca detto Aretino. 2021, 247. Mentioned and reproduced; p. 247, fig, 67.

Exhibition history

Italian Drawings. Burlington House. London, 1930.

Collection of Marquess of Northampton from Castle Ashby. Christie's, London 1959.

Year in Review (1961). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 1-26, 1961).

The International Style: The Arts in Europe around 1400. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (organizer) (October 23-December 2, 1962).

Gothic Art 1360-1440. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 6-September 15, 1963).

Old Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 10-31, 1964).

Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 1-March 24, 1965).

Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 6-September 9, 1965).

Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-February 28, 1967).

Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 9, 1967-January 1, 1968).

Italian Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-February 25, 1968).

Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968).

Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971).

Italian Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 1986-March 1, 1987).

Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).

Michelangelo: Mind of the Master. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 22, 2019-January 5, 2020).