Cimabue

Cimabue, born Cenni di Pepo (c. 1240 – c. 1302), was an Italian painter and mosaicist of the Florentine school. He is regarded as one of the last great representatives of Byzantine-influenced medieval painting in Italy and as a key figure in the transition toward Italian Renaissance naturalism. Active in Florence and central Italy, he produced altarpieces and frescoes for churches and religious institutions on commission from patrons in Florence and beyond. Little is known with certainty about his life beyond the accounts of later writers, notably Giorgio Vasari, who described his workshop and his role as teacher to younger painters.

In style, Cimabue’s early works display a formal, icon-like manner with gold backgrounds and frontal, hieratic figures. In his later pictures, he began to introduce more naturalistic modeling, greater variation in drapery and facial expression, and a subtle sense of space, signaling a shift toward the innovations that Giotto would develop. He also worked in mosaics, contributing to decorative programs in churches.

Among his surviving and attributed works are the late-13th-century Madonna Enthroned with Child and Angels, associated with the Florentine church of Santa Trinita, and other religious panels and fresco fragments. The precise authorship of some works has been debated, and Cimabue’s oeuvre is known primarily through later documentary sources and attributions.

Cimabue’s influence lies in his role as a bridge between the medieval, Byzantine-derived style and the more observational, human-centered approach that would define early Italian Renaissance painting. He is traditionally placed as Giotto’s predecessor and master, and he is thought to have trained several artists who carried forward his stylistic innovations. He is believed to have died in Florence around 1302.