Cimabue - Works

Painter, born in Florence, NC Italy. He adopted traditional Byzantine forms at first, but soon turned to nature, and led the way to the naturalism of his great pupil, Giotto. He executed several important frescoes in the Church of St Francis at Assisi; these were destroyed or severely damaged in an earthquake in 1997.

Cenni di Pepo (Giovanni) Cimabue (c 1240 in Florence, Italy — c 1302 in Florence, Italy) also known as Bencivieni Di Pepo or in modern Italian, Benvenuto Di Giuseppe, was a Florentine painter and creator of mosaics. Cimabue is generally thought of as the last great painter working in the Byzantine tradition. Cimabue was a pioneer in the move towards naturalism, as his figures showed more life-like proportions and shading.

Not much is known about his life, there being little surviving documentation. His life was described in Giorgio Vasari's The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, widely regarded as the first art history book, though it was completed over 200 years after Cimabue's death. It says:

Works

Judging by the commissions that he received, Cimabue appears to have been a highly regarded artist in his day. While Cimabue was at work in Florence, Duccio was the major artist, and perhaps his rival, in nearby Siena. Cimabue was commissioned to paint two very large frescoes for the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi.

Another sadly damaged work is the great Crucifix of Santa Croce reproduced on this page. It was the major work of art that was lost in the flood in Florence in 1966.

Among Cimabue's few surving works are the Madonna of San Trinita, which is housed, with Duccio's Rucellai Madonna and Giotto's Ogni Santi Madonna, in the Uffizi Gallery. It is claimed to be a work of Cimabue's old age.

Two additional, very fine paintings of Cimabue are now to be seen in New York at the Frick Collection. But in 2000 the National Gallery in London acquired a Virgin and Child with many similarities (size, materials, red borders, incised margins, etc.) The two pictures are now thought to be parts of one work, diptych or triptych altarpiece, and their attribution to Cimabue is fairly secure.

While the Flagllation is owned by the Frick (and is the only Cimabue resident in the United States), the Virgin and Child is here temporarily.

The pair are believed to date from 1280.