GIOTTO di Bondone
(b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze)

Navicella (mosaic fragment)

1305-13
Mosaic, diameter 66 cm
San Pietro Ispano, Boville Ernica

Around 1300 the work of Roman mosaicists extended to the exteriors as well. At Santa Maria Maggiore mosaics were not only added to the interior but also to the outside of the apse and the façade. Another exterior mosaic was the most famous of all the mosaics produced in Rome around 1300, the so-called Navicella ("Little Ship") that Giotto created on commission from Cardinal Jacopo Stefaneschi. Roughly 9,5 x 13,5 m, the mosaic was placed on the west wall of the oratory of Santa Maria in Turri, in the atrium of the old St. Peter's. Like a huge tableau, it confronted worshippers as they left the basilica. It survives today in the form of a mutilated Baroque reproduction in the basilica's vestibule. Only two fragments from the original, heavily reworked heads of angels that were part of the framing decor, are preserved.

Although heavily restored, this fragment of the Navicella conveys an impression of the splendour of the original mosaic.




© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.