Free Copy of Giotto's "Navicella" (recto); Copy of Adam in Masaccio's Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and other Figure Studies (verso)
Medium
Pen and brown ink (recto and verso). glued onto a secondary backing sheet of paper drawn in pen and brown ink, over black chalk
Dimensions
Overall: 10 13/16 x 15 3/8 in. (27.5 x 39 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Frederick C. Hewitt Fund, 1917
Accession Number
19.76.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
This intriguing double-sided drawing, created around 1420, offers a fascinating glimpse into the early Renaissance practice of studying and reinterpreting the works of revered masters. The recto presents a lively, freehand copy of Giotto’s monumental Navicella mosaic in Saint Peter’s Basilica, showing Christ walking on water amid a storm-tossed ship and its crew of apostles. On the verso, the artist records careful studies of figures, most notably Adam from Masaccio’s powerful Expulsion fresco in the Brancacci Chapel, alongside other nude and draped male forms. Likely executed by the Florenti...