Cimabue

Cimabue (Italian: [tʃimaˈbuːe]; c. 1240 – 1302), also known as Cenni di Pepo or Cenni di Pepi, was a Florentine painter and designer of mosaics.

Cimabue is generally regarded as one of the first great Italian painters to break from the Italo-Byzantine style, although he still relied on Byzantine models. The art of this period comprised scenes and forms that appeared relatively flat and highly stylized. Cimabue was a pioneer in the move towards naturalism; his figures were depicted with more lifelike proportions and shading. Even though he was a pioneer in that move, his Maestà paintings evidence Medieval techniques and characteristics. According to Italian painter and historian Giorgio Vasari, Cimabue was the teacher of Giotto, the first great artist of the Italian Proto-Renaissance. However, many scholars today tend to discount Vasari's claim, citing earlier sources which suggest this was not the case.

Few early surviving records mention Cimabue and little is known about his life. One source which recounts his career is Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, though the accuracy of what it has to say is uncertain.

He was born in Florence and died in Pisa. He perhaps may have trained in Florence under unknown masters culturally connected to Byzantine art. Many scholars today tend to discount Vasari's claim that he later had Giotto as his pupil, citing earlier sources which suggest this was not the case.

The Italian art historian Pietro Toesca attributed to Cimabue the Crucifixion in the church of San Domenico in Arezzo, dated to around 1270. This would be the earliest attributed work and it departs from the Byzantine style, being more reminiscent of works such as the Christus patiens (c. 1250) by Giunta Pisano. Cimabue's Christ, however, is more bent and the clothes have the golden striations introduced by Coppo di Marcovaldo.

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