Cimabue

Maestà — dawn of Italian painting

Vasari made him the starting point of the Lives — the first painter to break from the Byzantine manner toward naturalism. His Maestà in the Uffizi is monumental in scale and ambition. Dante placed him in Purgatorio as the exemplar of fame's transience: Cimabue thought he held the field in painting, and now Giotto has the cry.

Key works

• Maestà (Santa Trinita)~1280— Monumental enthroned Virgin — still Byzantine, already straining beyond it
  Uffizi, Florence
• Crucifix (Santa Croce)~1288— Severely damaged in 1966 flood — a relic of pathos
  Museo di Santa Croce, Florence

Connections

External