Giovanni of Florence, of the noble family of the Cimabue, aka Gualtieri, was born in 1240. At an early age, his parents sent him to study grammar in the school of the convent of Santa Maria Novella, where (as is also related of other innate painters), instead of conning his task, he distracted his teachers by drawing men, horses, and buildings on his schoolbooks; before printing was invented, this spoiling of schoolbooks must have been a rather costly fancy, and no doubt alarmed the professors of Greek and Latin. His parents, wisely yielding to the natural desire of his mind, allowed him to study painting under some Greek artists who had come to Florence to decorate the church of the convent in which he was a scholar. It seems doubtful whether Cimabue did indeed study under the specific painters alluded to by Vasari, but that his masters and models were the Byzantine painters of the time seems to be of no doubt whatsoever. The earliest of his works mentioned by Vasari still exists — a St. Cecilia, painted for the altar of that saint, but now preserved in the church of San Stefano. He was later employed by the monks of Vallombrosa, for whom he painted a Madonna with Angels on a gold background, now preserved in the Galleria dell’Academia in Florence. He also painted a Crucifixion for the church of Santa Croce, still on display, and several pictures for the churches of Pisa to the great contentment of the Pisans. By these and other works, his fame being spread far and near, he was called in the year 1265, when he was only 25-years-old, to finish the frescoes in the church of St. Francis in Assisi, which had been begun by Greek painters and continued by Giunta Pisano.
The decoration of this celebrated church is memorable in the history of painting. It is known that many of the best artists of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were employed there, but only fragments of the earliest pictures exist and the authenticity of those ascribed to Cimabue has been disputed by many. Lanzi, however, and Dr. Kugler agree in attributing him with the paintings on the roof of the nave, representing, in medallions, the figures of Christ, the Madonna, St. John the Baptist, St. Francis, and four magnificent winged and sceptred angels. “In the lower corners of the triangles are represented naked Genii bearing tasteful vases on their heads; out of these grow rich foliage and flowers, on which hang other Genii, who pluck the fruit or lurk in the cups of the flowers.”[1] If these are really by the hand of Cimabue, it must be concluded that here lies a great step in advance of the formal monotony of his Greek models. He executed many other pictures in this famous church, “con diligenza infinita” from the Old and New Testaments, in which, judging from the remaining fragments, he showed a decided improvement in drawing, in propriety of attitude, and in the expression of life. But still, the figures have only just so much animation and significance as are absolutely necessary to render the story or action intelligible. There is no variety, no expressive imitation of nature.