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Two Drawings of Ships (verso)

Parri Spinelli

1414

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Renaissance Renaissance Marine

Dominant colour

Two Drawings of Ships (verso) is a 1414 by Parri Spinelli, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Parri Spinelli
When & what style?: 1414 · Renaissance
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see two quick sketches of ships on one sheet of paper—one ship tilts left, the other rides straight. These aren’t original designs; Parri Spinelli copied them from a mosaic Giotto made for Old St. Peter’s in Rome. The sheet was once thought to be by Giotto himself, which tells you how closely Spinelli studied his teacher’s work. To see how early artists built on each other’s ideas, look up artist: Parri Spinelli (Italian, 1387–c. 1453).