The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Navicella (recto)

Navicella (recto)

c. 1410s
(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.a
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Dating from the early 1400s, this drawing by Parri Spinelli is the oldest in the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection.

Description

Parri Spinelli was most important painter from Arezzo in the early 1300s. About 30 of his drawings are extant, more than for any other artist of the period, when drawing was just beginning to be common to artistic practice. Spinelli used a quill pen and ink on a large sheet of paper to copy the composition of a monumental mosaic by the Florentine artist Giotto that adorned the portico of Old Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome (since destroyed). In this scene from the Bible, Christ walks on water at right, while Saint Peter kneels before him in front of a ship filled with Christ’s disciples. Spinelli focused on the outlines of the figures, using a limited vocabulary of parallel and perpendicular lines to suggest shallow depth and shadow. Paper was rarely wasted. On the other side of the sheet (1961.38.b), Spinelli continued the copy, rendering two large ships and two rowing boats full of people.The drawing formed part of a model or pattern book that Spinelli would have kept in his studio. The book was broken up, probably as early as the 1500s, and two other drawings with the same subject—in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and in the Musée Bonnat in Bayonne—are known.
  • ?-1574?
    Giorgio Vasari, 1511-74, Florence, Italy (according to Richardson, Ottley, Kurz, Virch, Collobi)
    ?-1747
    Johnathan Richardson, Sr., London (Lugt 2183, lower right, in black ink)
    1747
    His sale, 28 January 1747, no. 68
    ?-1798
    Sir Joshua Reynolds, London (Lugt 2364, lower right, in black ink)
    1798
    Probably his sale, 15 March 1798, no. 967.
    ?-?
    C. M. Metz, Rome and London
    ?-1814
    W. Young Ottley, London
    1814
    His sale, 11 June 1814, no. 622
    ?1814-?1830
    possibly Sir Thomas Lawrence (Lugt 2445, incomplete blind stamp, lower left)
    ?-1860
    Samuel Woodburn, London
    1860
    His sale, Christie, Manson, Wood, London, 12 June 1860, no. 1230 (as Giotto)
    ?-?
    Gase, Paris
    ?-1959
    Marquess of Northampton, Castle Ashby
    1959
    His sale, Christie, Manson, Woods, London, 1 May 1959
    1961
    With Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd., London
    1961
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Richardson, Jonathan, and Jonathan Richardson. An Account of Some of the Statues, Bas-Reliefs, Drawings and Pictures in Italy, &C. With Remarks. London: Printed for J. Knapton at the Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1722. 293 (as Giotto)
    Richardson, Jonathan. Traite de la peinture et de la sculpture. À Amsterdam: Chez Herman Uytwerf, 1728. III/2, 538 (as from Vasari's Libro by Giotto)
    Metz, C. M. Imitations of Ancient and Modern Drawings from the Restoration of the Arts in Italy to the Present Time: Together with a Chronological Account of the Artists and Structures of Their Work in English and French. London: The author, 1798. 5, ill (in reverse as etching, as Giotto)
    Ottley, William Young. The Italian School of Design: Being a Series of Fac-Similes of Original Drawings, by the Most Eminent Painters and Sculptors of Italy; with Biographical Notices of the Artists, and Observations on Their Works. London: Taylor and Hessey, 1823. repr. p. 9 (as Giotto)
    Venturi, Lionello, "La 'Navicella' di Giotto," L'Arte XXV (1922): pp. 49-69. fig.4 (as circle of Lorenzo Monaco)
    Popham, A. E. Italian Drawings Exhibited at the Royal Academy, Burlington House. London: The Oxford University Press, and the Executive Committee of the exhibition, 1931. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 1
    Kurz, Otto, "Giorgio Vasari's 'Libro de' Disegni," Old Master Drawings A Quarterly Magazine for Students and Collectors 45 (June, 1937): pp. 1-7. p. 7 (as a copy of Giotto's mosaic)
    Berenson, Bernard. The Drawings of the Florentine Painters. Chicago, Ill: University of Chicago Press, 1938. 2: 254, no. 1837K (as Parri Spinelli)
    Popham, Arthur Ewart. Old Master Drawings: From the Collection of the Marquess of Northampton and Removed from Castle Ashby, Northampton. London: Christie, Manson & Woods, 1959. no. 14
    Virch, Claus, "A Page from Vasari's Book of Drawings," Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin XIX no. 7 (March 1961): 185-93. pp. 189-93, fig 5 (as Ottley engraving) 3257885.
    Walters Art Gallery. The International Style: The Arts in Europe Around 1400. Baltimore, MD: Walters Art Gallery, 1962. no. 32
    Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, Md.). The International Style: The Arts in Europe Around 1400; [Exhibition]: October 23-December 2, 1962. 1962. pp. 34-35, no. 32, plate 35 (as Parri Spinelli?)
    Degenhart, Bernhard, and Annegrit Schmitt. Corpus der italienischen Zeichnungen, 1300-1450. Berlin: Mann, 1968. 2: 281, no. 183, 637; 3: plates 204a, b (as circle of Lorenzo Monaco)
    van Regteren Altena, E. Q., review of Degenhart, Bernhard, and Annegrit Schmitt (Corpus der italienischen Zeichnungen, 1300-1450. Berlin: Mann, 1968) Master Drawings VIII (1970): 396-402 p. 400 (as Parri Spinelli?)
    Pillsbury, Edmund P. Florence and the Arts; Five Centuries of Patronage. 1971. Reproduced: no. 50
    Levenson, Jay A., Konrad Oberhuber, and Jacquelyn L. Sheehan. Early Italian Engravings from the National Gallery of Art. 1973. 160, fig. 7-1 verso (as Parri Spinelli)
    Ragghianti Collobi, Licia, and Giorgio Vasari. Il libro de'disegni del Vasari. A A. Firenze: Vallecchi, 1974. 1: 28, 38, 39. 2: figs. 46, 47 (as Antonio Veneziano)
    Zucker, Mark J. “Parri Spinelli Drawings Reconsidered.” Master Drawings, vol. 19, no. 4, 1981, pp. 426–484. mentions pp. 432, 440n28, 440n35, 441n37, 441n41, illus. pl 19 1553595.
    Bean, Jacob, Turčić, Lawrence, and Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.). 15th and 16th Century Italian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art / Jacob Bean with the Assistance of Lawrence Turčić. New York : The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982. . p. 170 libmma.contentdm.oclc.org
    Köhren-Jansen, Helmtrud. Giottos Navicella: Bildtradition, Deutung, Rezeptionsgeschichte. Worms am Rhein: Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1993. p.p. 225-26; fig. 75
    Elen, Albert J. Italian late-medieval and Renaissance drawing-books: from Giovannino de'Grassi to Palma Giovane : a codicological approach. Leiden: A.J. Elen, 1995. repr. p. 511, no. 6, cat. no. 10; repr. p. 522, no. 24, cat. no. 47
    Dunbar, Burton L., and Edward J. Olszewski. Drawings in Midwestern Collections: A Corpus. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1996. pp. 102-107, no. 20
    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
    Goldner, George, review of Master Drawings from The Cleveland Museum of Art, Master Drawings vol 40, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 174-176. 175.
    Bresciani, Aristide. Spinello di Luca detto Aretino. 2021, 247. Mentioned and reproduced; p. 247, fig, 67.
  • Michelangelo: Mind of the Master. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 22, 2019-January 5, 2020).
    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).
    Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971).
    Italian Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-February 25, 1968).
    Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 9, 1967-January 1, 1968).
    Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-February 28, 1967).
    Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 1-March 24, 1965).
    Old Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 10-31, 1964).
    The International Style: The Arts in Europe around 1400. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (organizer) (October 23-December 2, 1962).
    Year in Review (1961). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 1-26, 1961).
    Collection of Marquess of Northampton from Castle Ashby. Christie's, London 1959.
    Italian Drawings. Burlington House. London, 1930.
  • {{cite web|title=Navicella (recto)|url=false|author=Parri Spinelli|year=c. 1410s|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1961.38.a