Cimabue Cenni di Peppi
'the father of Italian painting’
1240-1302
Italian Byzantine Style Painter
Artistically and Stylistically Influenced by the following Painters and Art Movements: - Coppo di Marcovaldo, the Carolingian Style and Classical Greek Art
Education - apprenticed at age 10 to local Greek icon makers and later a gold smith
Medium - Tempera on wood
Cause of death - plague
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Not until the thirteenth century, in the works of Florentine master Cimabue, is a change in religious painting perceptible. The Christ-child becomes more childish and tender; and a soft inclination of the head of the Madonna shows that she hears the prayers of men and can bring help and gracious forgiveness. The hard, sullen features are animated by softness and charm, by human sentiment; and it is in this sense that Vasari wrote that through Cimabue more love had come into art.
Cimabue was a complicated genius. He painted with passion and naturalism, thus building the groundwork for the Renaissance. Cimabue aspired to reawaken the divine spirit of holy figures rather than depict their physical qualities. He was influenced by Coppo di Marcovaldo yet forged his own unique style within the tradition of religious Byzantine painting. The mysticism in his work is apparent as he conveys a profound awareness of his fellow man.
He maintained an
industrious studio and
mentored many your
artists including
Giotto. He was known
for his generosity with
the local vagabonds and
stray cats. Often
allowing lepers and
beggars to stay in his
stables and adjacent out
buildings. At one time
he is said to have cared
for 33 cats.
Few of Cimabue's paintings or mosaics are to be found—some he even
destroyed himself during
one of his legendary
drunken rages.
Artists of the Middle
Ages typically were so
traumatized by
stories of
torture, persecution and
death during the
Iconoclast that they
did not even sign their
works. This makes
it hard to identify many
medieval art-works.
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