A
Florentine painter active in the second half of the thirteenth century. He helped brighten the moribund
Byzantine style then used in Italy, and led to the greater
naturalism of his pupil
Giotto. They and also
Duccio worked together on the Franciscan
basilica at
Assisi (badly damaged in the recent earthquake).
His name was Cenni di Pepo, usually called Cimabuè, or Giovanni Cimabuè. His dates of birth and death are unknown: born around 1240 perhaps, his first mention in documents is 1272 and his last is 1302.
The younger Giotto overtook his master very quickly; Dante could write (in Purgatorio canto XI):
Once Cimabuè thought to hold the field
as painter; Giotto now is all the rage,
dimming the lustre of the other's fame.