“Ioto the Greek, a most-excellent painter”: The Copy of Giotto’s Navicella in the Chapel of St Blaise of Toledo Cathedral

Abstract

The chapel of St Blaise of Toledo Cathedral, the funerary chapel founded by Archbishop Pedro Tenorio (1377–1399), is a key monument for the understanding of the transformations in Castilian painting between the 14th and the 15th centuries. However, the severe conditions imposed by its location have damaged substantial parts of its decoration, complicating an accurate analysis of its Italianising wall paintings. The purpose of this article is to provide some hints about the painters who worked in it by examining the signature that once existed on its east wall and, above all, by presenting the mutilated copy of Giotto’s Navicella that still stands on its south wall, to be added to the list of copies of what was probably the most famous work of art of the Middle Ages. Its depiction was undoubtedly Tenorio’s personal choice, who expressed through it his concerns about the Western Schism.