Shipwreck
1622-23
Medium
Pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash, over black chalk, on ivory laid paper, laid down on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
12.2 × 33.7 cm (4 13/16 × 13 5/16 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
4058
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Sent to Naples from his native Rome as a child, Filippo carried the moniker of his adopted city as he went on to become an important artist at the court of Cosimo II de’ Medici in Florence.
Art Historical Context
Filippo Napoletano *Shipwreck* (2–23) a dramatic maritime scene with vivid energy. Created by the Italian artist during the early period, this drawing portrays the chaos of vessel caught in a storm a subject that resonated with audiences fascinated by nature’s power and human vulnerability at sea. The compact format—measuring just over 12 by 33 centimeters—invites close viewing, encouraging visitors to follow the swirling lines that suggest crashing waves and struggling figures. Executed in pen and brown ink with brush and wash over black chalk on ivory laid paper, the work highlights Napoletano’s skill in using fluid washes to build depth and movement. This layered technique allowed him to quickly convey light, shadow, and texture, making the drawing both a finished composition and a window into the artist’s working process. Such ink studies were valued in the seventeenth century for their immediacy and expressive potential. Now housed in the Prints and Drawings department at the Art Institute of Chicago, *Shipwreck* offers a tangible link to early modern interests in travel, peril, and the sublime forces of the natural world.