Two Drawings of Ships (verso)

Both images depict generic ships, likely intended to illustrate the types of vessels that would have appeared in a narrative scene. The tilted ship suggests movement or a turning maneuver, while the upright vessel conveys stability. As studies, they functioned as visual references for larger works, helping the artist translate complex maritime details into a broader compositional context.

The drawings are rendered with swift, confident strokes of a fine pen, emphasizing outline over shading. The line work reflects the linear clarity characteristic of early Italian drawing, with an emphasis on proportion and the basic geometry of hulls. The simplicity of the sketches indicates they were preparatory, capturing the essential shape without decorative embellishment.

Long regarded as an original work by Giotto, the sheet is now identified as a copy made by Parri Spinelli, a Florentine painter active in the early 15th century. Spinelli reproduced the designs from a mosaic that Giotto created for the portico of Old St. Peter’s in Rome. The drawing entered the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection as its earliest dated paper work, illustrating the shifting attributions that accompany medieval artworks.

The original mosaic, part of Giotto’s decorative program for the entrance of Old St. Peter’s, combined narrative scenes with architectural framing. Spinelli’s copies demonstrate how later artists studied and transmitted the visual solutions of their predecessors, especially in the depiction of complex subjects such as ships. This practice of copying served both pedagogical and practical purposes within workshop traditions of the period.