Although heavily influenced by Byzantine models, Cimabue is generally regarded as one of the first great Italian painters to break from theItalo-Byzantine style.[6] Compared with the norms ofmedieval art, his works have more lifelike figural proportions and a more sophisticated use of shading to suggest volume. According to Italian painter and historianGiorgio Vasari, Cimabue was the teacher ofGiotto,[2] the first great artist of the ItalianProto-Renaissance. However, many scholars today tend to discount Vasari's claim by citing earlier sources that suggest otherwise.[7]
He was born in Florence and died inPisa. Hayden Maginnis speculates that he could have trained in Florence under masters who were culturally connected toByzantine art. The art historianPietro Toesca attributed theCrucifixion in the church ofSan Domenico inArezzo to Cimabue, dating around 1270, making it the earliest known attributed work that departs from the Byzantine style.[8] Cimabue's Christ is bent, and the clothes have the golden striations that were introduced byCoppo di Marcovaldo.
Around 1272, Cimabue is documented as being present inRome,[9] and a little later he made anotherCrucifix for the Florentine church ofSanta Croce.[10] Now restored, having been damaged by the1966 Arno River flood, the work was larger and more advanced than the one inArezzo, with traces of naturalism perhaps inspired by the works ofNicola Pisano.
According to Vasari, Cimabue, while travelling from Florence to Vespignano, came upon the 10-year-old Giotto (c. 1277) drawing his sheep with a rough rock upon a smooth stone. He asked if Giotto would like to come and stay with him, which the child accepted with his father's permission.[11] Vasari elaborates that during Giotto's apprenticeship, he allegedly painted a fly on the nose of a portrait Cimabue was working on; the teacher attempted to sweep the fly away several times before he understood his pupil's prank.[11] Many scholars now discount Vasari's claim that he took Giotto as his pupil, citing earlier sources that suggest otherwise.[7]
Around 1280, Cimabue painted theMaestà, originally displayed in the church ofSan Francesco atPisa, but now at theLouvre.[12] This work established a style that was followed subsequently by numerous artists, includingDuccio di Buoninsegna in hisRucellai Madonna (in the past, wrongly attributed to Cimabue) as well as Giotto. Other works from the period, which were said to have heavily influenced Giotto, include aFlagellation (Frick Collection),[13] mosaics for theBaptistery of Florence (now largely restored), theMaestà at theSanta Maria dei Servi inBologna and theMadonna in the Pinacoteca ofCastelfiorentino. A workshop painting, perhaps assignable to a slightly later period, is theMaestà with Saints Francis and Dominic now in theUffizi.[14]
During thepontificate ofPope Nicholas IV, the firstFranciscan pope,[15] Cimabue worked inAssisi.[16] At Assisi, in thetransept of the LowerBasilica of San Francesco, he created afresco namedMadonna with Child Enthroned, Four Angels and St Francis. The left portion of this fresco is lost, but it may have shownSt Anthony of Padua (the authorship of the painting has been recently disputed for technical and stylistic reasons).[14] Cimabue was subsequently commissioned to decorate theapse and the transept of the Upper Basilica of Assisi, in the same period of time that Roman artists were decorating thenave. The cycle he created there comprises scenes from theGospels, the lives ofthe Virgin Mary,St Peter andSt Paul. The paintings are now in poor condition because of oxidation of the brighter colours that were used by the artist.
TheMaestà of Santa Trinita, dated to c. 1290–1300, which was originally painted for the church ofSanta Trinita inFlorence, is now in theUffizi Gallery. The softer expression of the characters suggests that it was influenced by Giotto, who was by then already active as a painter.[17]
Cimabue spent the last period of his life, 1301 to 1302, in Pisa. There, he was commissioned to finish a mosaic ofChrist Enthroned, originally begun byMaestro Francesco, in the apse of thecity's cathedral. Cimabue was to create the part of the mosaic depicting StJohn the Evangelist, which remains the sole surviving work documented as being by the artist.[18] Cimabue died around 1302.[19]
The mosaic in its architectural context
The figure of Saint John, the only documented work by Cimabue
According to Vasari, quoting a contemporary of Cimabue, "Cimabue of Florence was a painter who lived during the author's own time, a nobler man than anyone knew but he was as a result so haughty and proud that if someone pointed out to him any mistake or defect in his work, or if he had noted any himself ... he would immediately destroy the work, no matter how precious it might be."[20]
The nickname Cimabue translates as "bull-head" but also possibly as "one who crushes the views of others", from the Italian verbcimare, meaning "to top", "to shear", and "to blunt". The conclusion for the second meaning is drawn from similar commentaries on Dante, who was also known "for being contemptuous of criticism".[21]
History has long regarded Cimabue as the last of an era that was overshadowed by theItalian Renaissance. As early as 1543, Vasari wrote of Cimabue, "Cimabue was, in one sense, the principal cause of the renewal of painting," with the qualification that, "Giotto truly eclipsed Cimabue's fame just as a great light eclipses a much smaller one."[20]
In Canto XI of hisPurgatorio,Dante laments the quick loss of public interest in Cimabue in the face of Giotto's revolution in art.[22] Cimabue himself does not appear inPurgatorio, but is mentioned by Oderisi, who is also repenting for his pride. The artist serves to represent the fleeting nature of fame in contrast with the Enduring God.[22]
O vanity of human powers, how briefly lasts the crowning green of glory, unless an age of darkness follows! In painting Cimabue thought he held the field but now it's Giotto has the cry, so that the other's fame is dimmed.
On 27 October 2019,The Mocking of Christ, was sold for €24m (£20m; $26.6m), a price the auctioneers described as a new world record for a medieval painting. The picture had been located in the kitchen of a home in northern France, and its owner had been unaware of its value.[24]
While none of Cimabue’s works are signed or securely dated, art historians have attributed several to him, with varying degrees of certainty. Many works in major collections have been erroneously attributed to Cimabue.[25]
^J. A. Crowe; G. B. Calvalcaselle (1975).A History of Painting in Italy; Umbria, Florence and Siena from the Second to the Sixteenth Century. Vol. 1. AMS Press. p. 202.
^Fred Kleiner (2008).Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Global History. Vol. 2. Cengage Learning EMEA. p. 502.
^abHayden B.J. Maginnis (2004). "In Search of an Artist". In Anne Derbes; Mark Sandona (eds.).The Cambridge Companion to Giotto. Cambridge. pp. 12–13.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Paoletti, John T.; Radke, Gary M. (2005).Art in Renaissance Italy. Laurence King Publishing. p. 51.
^Van Vechten Brown, Alice; Rankin, William (1914).A Short History of Italian Painting. J.M. Dent & Sons, ltd. p. 41.
^Brink, Joel (October 1978). "Carpentry and Symmetry in Cimabue's Santa Croce Crucifix".The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 120, no. 907.
^Gibbs, Robert."Cimabue". www.oxfordartonline.com. Retrieved11 February 2017.
^abAligheri, Dante (2003).Purgatorio. Translated by Hollander, Jean; Hollander, Robert. New York: Anchor Books, Random House Inc. p. 245.ISBN0-385-49700-8.
^Aligheri, Dante (2003).Purgatorio. Translated by Hollander, Jean; Hollander, Robert. New York: Anchor Books, Random House. pp. 236–237.ISBN0-385-49700-8.
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